Retribution
by YoUnG-AnD-HoPeLeSs09
Summary: When Kalli gets a glimpse of her best friend's murderer, she's on a mission to hunt him down. But what she finds out sends her on an adventure, WITH HIM, to find out the truth behind her best friend's murder, and unlock the secret to his regretful past...
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue:_

11:25AM

August 7, 2005

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow at school!" She called back to me as she gently glided up her walkway to her dark-brown, oak wooded front door. Anna's house wasn't all that big, but it was big enough for her two sisters, her mom, and herself. I loved her family like my own. I honestly would have moved in with them if Anna truly wanted me to. It wasn't like my family provided the care for me like Anna's did. But at that moment, all Anna wanted from me was a promising wave good-bye.

As I waved back to her, she smiled with friendship glistening in her eyes. I knew that she must have been cold. It was almost 40 degrees outside today. It was one of the coldest days Stillwater, Oklahoma has ever seen. I smiled back, and started to ease on the gas pedal when I saw her trip. I immediately pushed on the brakes to look at her. She didn't get up at first, so I yelled, "Are you okay?" while leaning over and saying it out of the passenger window. I suddenly felt a weird feeling. Like I to keep her safe at all cost. I didn't know where it came from, but I do know that I felt that something was wrong. Really wrong. And for some reason, I decided to pass the feeling over.

"I'm fine! I just…tripped. That's all." She laughed back as she finally started picking herself up. She grabbed her duffel bag; it contained her clothes from spending the night at my house.

"Okay! You be careful now as you're walking those last few steps to your front door!" I teased. We both laughed as she waved good-bye to me again. I started backing out of Anna's driveway again, slowly, making sure she was in the house before I left; I always did that. I got to the end of her slightly slanted driveway and waited as she attempted to open the door. It didn't open for her, so she rang to doorbell. When nothing happened, she put her bag down and rang it again. I yelled, "Hey, do you just want to come back to my place for the day, or wait until they get back or something? I mean, their car's not even here!"

Anna's mom's car wasn't there. But Anna's mom and her sisters had gone to a volunteer project thing that she really didn't want to go to. Her mom had offered for her to spend the night at my house to get her out of it. Anna's mom had told me that they would all be back by about ten o'clock. Anna knew that and called back, "Nah! I'll just wait for them! I mean, they should be here soon; it's almost 11:30! But you can wait out here with me until they get here!" She added a smile to that last sarcastic part. I had to giggle at that.

"Maybe you could try to garage!" I suggested after thinking about it for a second.

"Good idea!" she smiled back. But just as she started turning, I saw her hesitate. The window right next to the door was tall and had a white curtain in it. I saw the curtain move back and someone looked out. I guessed that was what she was looking at. I figured it was just her mom or someone checking to make sure they knew who was at the door, and they really did park the car in the garage. I saw the door open, so I started focusing on my driving. I turned my head around and finished backing out of her long driveway, then turned out into the street. When I looked back at the house, Anna wasn't there anymore. She had gotten into the house safely.

But I still felt like something wasn't right. I felt like there was something I should have been doing, other than just sitting in front of Anna's house. And that something included Anna's life in some way. But I still couldn't pinpoint where the feeling was coming from or what it meant. So I decided to spend a moment just looking out of the passenger window at her bright blue home.

I started to remember how she had always complained about the color. They had moved into that one-story, three bedroom house just four years before when we were both 13 years old. I agreed with her when I first saw it, too. I hated the color. I had helped them move in, and then got to help splatter paint all over Anna's bedroom walls. It was a new look she had been going for. But she soon realized that she only liked the feeling of painting a wall that actually belonged to her family. Now she hated the multi-colored splatters that covered her bedroom. That had been the first house that they owned, and she wanted to paint her room again, but she was unfortunate in the department of persuading her parents.

Anna and I had been best friends since the 3rd grade, when she moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma. We had been inseparable since. But she's also been moving from house to house since then. But we didn't let that get us down. On the weekends it was either her house or mine, but we were never alone. I couldn't bear to leave her alone with her two bossy older sisters, and she couldn't bear to leave me alone with my three annoying older brothers.

Then I remembered how we made a pact in the 5th grade, that we would be friends forever, no matter what. And even after we graduated high school, we would go to the same college and live in the same dorm and everything. We were young then, but we still felt the same way now as seniors in high school. Well, we were almost seniors. We had two weeks left of summer, and we were the most exited we had ever been. Plus, to top it off, Anna's birthday was coming up. She was going to be 18 years old on September 21st. I don't turn 18 until December 15th, so she was a little older than me. But we were like sisters, and age didn't matter to us.

All of a sudden, I flashed back and noticed Anna's duffel bag still sitting in front of her house and the door was closed. I shook my head and laughed as I reached for my cell phone. I figured she had just left it outside on accident. I hit her speed dial button and the phone began to ring. Nothing happened, so I guessed that she had her cell phone in her bag. I called her house phone and nobody picked up. I thought that was really weird but I went along with it. I was about to get out of the car to go return the bag myself. Then I saw the door open and Anna's mom ran out to the bag. She didn't look so good. Actually, she looked horrible. Her face was stained with tears, and her eyes were deep as if she hadn't gotten any sleep in the past couple of days. I couldn't see who they were, but I saw two figures standing in the shadow of the open doorway. It almost looked like one of them was struggling while the other held them still, but Anna's mom ran back into the house in a flash before I had a chance to ask her what was wrong. I sat for a moment, confused. Then I saw the curtain beside the door move aside again, and a shape appeared behind the window. It took me a second to make out the face of a man.

He had short, light-brown hair, and a clean-shaven face. His eyes were in perfect symmetry on his face, and a beautiful shade of green. They were looking outside with a fierce glare. His face was a little long, and his cheeks rounded in a slightly adorable way. His lips were smooth and pink. Then I noticed that he was looking at me the whole time.

He only stood there for a moment before returning behind the safety of the curtain. I quickly realized that I had never seen this man before in my life. And Anna had never mentioned anything about knowing anyone like that. He might have only been there for a single moment, but I'll never forget his face.

All of a sudden, I was screaming. I was in my house, in my pajamas, watching the news. The date on the TV said August 8th. It was the next day. I didn't understand any of it, but the news showed an irreplaceable sight. The four people whose faces they were showing had me frozen with fear. I couldn't think of anything else to do, but scream, as they posted the time of death right next to Anna's 11th grade picture…11:35 AM. I closed my eyes and tried to wake up from this dream. Luckily for me, consciousness is always on my side.

Ch. 1 

7:42AM

September 17, 2005

I awoke in an unfamiliar bed that lay in an unfamiliar room. It took me a mere second to realize that I was sweating profusely. I've got to stop dreaming about that. I can't let Anna's face haunt me forever. I rubbed my eyes and looked around the room.

I had to look around for quite a while before remembering where exactly I was. Which, at the moment, was somewhere in New Mexico, just south of Santa Fe. I think the town is called Madrid.

I remembered renting a motel room last night to give myself a rest. I'd had barely any sleep in the past 48 hours. But then again, it was better than the two whole weeks before, when I'd gotten only16 hours of sleep altogether.

I wiped my forehead and brought my legs over the edge of the bed. I remembered a song I used to sing with Anna all the time and had to take a moment to fight back the single tear that threatened my inner strength. Like in the song, I cradled my head in my hands and took a deep breath.

I sat for a moment with my face still in my hands. I was looking between my fingers at the room as my elbows jabbed at my thin legs. I was running short on food lately, and was starving. I was being forced to sink as low as scrapping some fruit off of street vendors and such. I didn't like the way I had been living the past month, but I was on a mission, and nothing was going to stop me from carrying out my goal.

I stared at the small dresser that was set up next to the bed. I pulled my face out of my hands and blinked in slight shock at the ipod that I had placed there the night before. I couldn't believe that it was still there. Not that I wanted it stolen or anything, but I was just impressed that the manager to the motel had come in the bedroom last night and never took it while I was sleeping. At least he thought I was sleeping.

I never really sleep anymore. I close my eyes and drift into a semi-sub-consciousness in which I could keep a look out on my surroundings while I got some form of rest. I know for a fact that someone was in my room last night. But I lock my door out of force of habit, and the manager was the absolute, only other person here last night that had any keys to the rooms. I remembered that because last night when I got here, I noticed the big chain of keys that he had had in his pocket. I had asked him if there were any other keys to the rooms here, and for some reason, he broke out into a sob story about his wife leaving him. I had to listen to four flights of stairs of this guy telling me how his wife took the other set of keys when she ran away with the bellboy, and now he runs the motel all by himself, with no help. The trip to my room took four flights only because he was placing me in the attic room; he claimed it was the best room he had for my last 10 dollars.

I picked up my ipod and scrolled down to one of my favorite songs. It was a Three Days Grace song called 'Pain'. I had been favoring songs like that since the incident. Actually, I had been favoring a lot of weird stuff since the incident. For example, I dyed my long hair black last week, and am now in love with it. I used to hate people who dyed their hair, especially when they dyed it black. I also noticed my liking for horror movies, when I used to almost pee myself when somebody just spoke of one. But these changes were the least of my worries. Right now, I was looking for somebody.

I was looking for somebody who had a clean-shaven face, and beautiful green eyes. I had started looking for him two weeks after Anna's death. It was about a week after her funeral, and I was depressed. School had just started, but I had decided not to go. I was been filling my car up with gas, and when I went in to pay, I saw him leaving. He walked right passed me and it took me a minute to realize whom he was. Then I flashed back to that scene where I was sitting in the car, and he glanced for a mere second out the window. But it was enough to remember then, and this glance was enough to remember now. I quickly paid for my gas, and got into my car. Luckily, he hadn't left yet when I came out. But he was leaving as I got into my car, so I followed his black BMW all the way out of town. I guess you can get rich quickly in the criminal career.

It was about an hour later that I realized that I wasn't going to lose this guy. I was going to follow him until I caught him. Retribution was my only hope. I couldn't live without knowing that he was no longer walking this earth freely. I didn't want to kill him. That would have been letting him off easily. I wanted to see him rot in jail for his crimes against Anna. I wanted to see him suffer. But if I couldn't put him in jail, the least I could do is find him. I wanted to find him and just ask him a simple question. I was thinking that hopefully it would cause a ripple effect on his guilty conscience and he would cave. I just wanted to ask him why. But right now that wasn't so easy.

He'd made a u-turn somewhere around Edmond, and started heading towards Stillwater again. I decided that I would grab some clothes from my house, along with other needed supplies, when he had stopped for the night at a motel. The next morning I was supposed to confront him, if I'd gotten there on time. But he'd already gotten up and I again had to follow him. But this time he led me straight through Texas and into New Mexico. Unfortunately, I lost him somewhere in Clovis. Now I'm just picking up on his trail. I'm determined to find him again.

I put my headphones on and started listening to my music as I walked over to the single backpack that I had been carrying around. It was small enough for me to take around everywhere, and still big enough for me to fit eight outfits and a bikini in it. I started to pull out a simple outfit I could throw on so I could get the heck out of there. I pulled out my 'Jesus is my homedawg' t-shirt and smelled it. It smelled good enough for me. I only slept in a spaghetti-strap, so I just put the shirt on over it. The light brown background on the t-shirt almost blended with the color of my skin. I reached down to pull out a pair of pants when I noticed what was missing all along. I noticed what should have been, but wasn't, hanging from my neck. I felt for it around my neck to double check, and only touched bare skin. That son of a… I knew what the manager took from me.

I threw my pajama shorts into the backpack after I quickly put on my only pair of Mudd jeans. I checked my ears for my earrings, and they were still there. Next, I checked my watch, which was right where I left it. Then, I felt for my anklet. It, too, was present. Thank God. But I didn't care too much about all of that. What I cared about most was the one thing that was missing. And I was eager to get it back.

I checked around the room and thought about anything else I had brought with me. There was nothing left behind as I dashed down the four flights of stairs, amazed at how easily I was flying through them. I jumped over the very last three steps, and swiftly caught my breath as I slowly made my way over to the front desk.

Sure enough, Mr. Fantaski was sitting behind his counter, busy in a magazine. Mr. Fantaski was a plump man who you could tell definitely had a taste for fattening foods. He was almost completely bald, with the exception of a thin layer on either side of his head of gray hair. He was circling stuff, so I assumed he was shopping or something. He heard the sound of my drop and looked up for a brief moment, then got back to his magazine. He didn't look up again until I was standing right over him at the fairly small front desk. It wasn't decorated except for a bowl of oranges he kept at his end. They were more for him than for the customers.

As his round face looked up at me, I saw his calm brown eyes sparkle. But I didn't waste any time studying this man. I swiftly grabbed his tie and pulled his face close to mine so I could make my point crystal clear. "Where is it?" I tried as hard as I could to keep myself from yelling.

"What are you talking about?" he yelped in fear. His magazine was still held tight in his hands.

"You know darn well what I'm talking about!" I sort of got upset, but I was trying to save my energy for the rest of today.

"I swear, I really don't, and you're wrinkling my tie!" he struggled, not taking his eyes off of me. I looked down to get his face out of my mind for just a second so that I could cool down before answering back. Finally I was calm enough and looked at his fear-filled face.

"Oh, believe me. Your tie is the least of your worries right now, because I am missing a chain. And on that chain was a pair of dog tags. Now, those tags are very special to me, but they were stolen last night. I want them back. And as far as I know, you are the only person here with access to keys to the rooms. Or was I mistaken?" I was as calm as I was ever going to get in this particular situation. Unfortunately for Mr. Fantaski, my maximum level of calm wasn't very high.

"I swear, I did not take anything from you! I didn't even go into the rooms last night!" Mr. Fantaski's voice almost sounded as if he were pleading for his life. Of course, I wouldn't have blamed him at that moment. I was being pretty rough with his Superman tie.

"Well then where are my tags, and who took them?" I yelled back. I was definitely at a breaking point.

"Well, there was another person here last night. A man. Maybe he snuck into your room last night and took them." Mr. Fantaski said hopefully with a forced smile of innocence on his face. I gave him a look of suspicion. A man?

"What man? What was his name?" I asked simply, my voice much lower than before.

"I don't know. I don't even know your name! He came in last night. Said he needed a place to stay, so you know me. I offered him a room and gave him a key and then I came down here and went to sleep." Mr. Fantaski spoke quickly, but as if he was sure he'd just found the culprit. I stood there, just holding his tie, lost in thought about whether this story was believable or not. I concluded that I didn't even care. I just wanted my tags back.

"Where is this man? Has he left yet?" I finally asked.

"No," Mr. Fantaski answered, but then paused. "But he's right behind you."

It no longer amazed me how quickly my body could make a 180-degree turn. I was still holding on to Mr. Fantaski's tie and I heard the yelp from his pain as I jerked him forward, ramming him into his desk. I looked up at this simple man who was now standing before me.

Well hello gorgeous…. His face seemed almost familiar in a way, but I knew this was no man that I had ever seen before.He was young. I guessed he was just a few years older than me, though. He was a few inches taller than me, but I didn't mind looking up into his face. His hair had the popular style of short and thick. It was an off shade of blonde, and it was styled in a spiky sort of way. It looked as if he ran gelled fingers up it, rather than touching it with a comb. His eyes were a deep shade of blue with a few spots of green mixed in. He had a little bit of a scruff on his face, but that was okay with me. He was wearing a Patriots jacket, and some Levi jeans. I just stood there in awe at the fact that this man was in a crappy motel like the one we were standing.

"Is everything alright here?" He asked, his English accent sharp. I let go of Mr. Fantaski's tie, and he fell back into his chair and took a deep breath, smoothing the tie out. I didn't say anything, but Mr. Fantaski just as quickly jumped up and came around the desk.

"As a matter of fact, there is!" he shouted, throwing his finger at the man as if he was trying to make him disappear in a magic show. The man's eyes widened for a brief moment then went calm again. "We do not welcome thieves here at the Fantaski motel!" Mr. Fantaski was now standing in front of me, yelling while using weird hand motions. The man now looked confused.

"I beg your pardon?" the man's eyes shot up and down Mr. Fantaski in one swift motion. But now he was looking Mr. Fantaski straight in the eye.

"I know what you took last night! Especially from a little girl! How can you live with yourself?" Mr. Fantaski still yelled.

"Hey! I'm not a little girl!" I said defensively. The man no longer looked confused, but shocked.

He took a deep breath and said, "I honestly have not the slightest clue what you're talking about."

Then he looked at me for only the second time and I noticed something. It was small, slightly invisible, and barely detectable, but definitely unmistakable. And everything hit me at once. It momentarily sent me back to the moment in time when I first saw this man's face through a window. When the man looked at me just now, he had blinked. And when he did, I saw the shade of dark blue in his eye shift on his contact, leaving the true nature of his eye color unprotected. And I saw those same beautiful deep green eyes once again.

My mind began to race as I swiftly began seeing other irreplaceable flaws. I saw that his blonde hair came to a stop just barely at his roots. The roots of his hair were undoubtedly brown. I noticed that the jacket he was wearing was way too light for New Mexico's autumn, but just heavy enough for a place like Oklahoma. And then, I saw the glisten of a chain at the top of his Levi jeans' pocket. My tags! But that wasn't the worst thing I saw.

I saw a hidden weapon, tucked into his pants, just beyond the edge of his hip. His jacket was supposed to be covering the gun, but I was too big of an observer to miss it. And this changed everything. I couldn't believe I was so stupid as to not think of what he might have been bringing with him. I knew I couldn't go up against a weapon of that kind of force. I knew there was only one thing to do if he was now after me. I had to run.

I quickly realized that he was still looking at me after I'd done my inspection, and I didn't like the look on his face. He was glaring at me suspiciously. Mr. Fantaski had just stopped yelling at the man as I mumbled the words, "Actually, Mr. Fantaski, I think I'm just going to go. I probably just left them on the…bike, that's all. I'm sorry I troubled you. Thanks for everything, though." I spoke soft and slowly, without taking my eyes off of this guy. But it was loud enough for Mr. Fantaski to hear as I slowly edged towards the front doors to the motel. The man was now looking at me knowingly as I drifted away from his grasp.

I didn't turn around towards the doors once, except to open them, for fear of turning my back on this man. And when I did open the doors, I did it with haste and skill. I turned around, grabbed the handles, flung one of the doors open and took one last look at the two men, standing in the lobby. Shock and confusion was covering their faces. Mr. Fantaski was more confused, and the man was more shocked, but both looks were equally terrifying for me. As I turned to walk out the door I heard Mr. Fantaski starting to apologize sincerely to the man. I didn't hear the man reply in any way, but I did hear footsteps gradually drifting towards the door. I still had only one thing on my mind at that point. RUN!

I honestly didn't have a bike. I had a car, but that wasn't going to be any good at this point, because it still had a license plate from Oklahoma on it, and I knew that the man would figure that out immediately. So I shot down the stairs that led up to the front doors to the motel, and I ran to my car, which was conveniently parked right out front, in a small parking lot. I yanked my keys from the side pocket of my backpack, and unlocked it. In one swift motion, I opened the door, threw in my cell phone that I had grabbed with my keys, closed the door and locked it.

My cell phone was the last thing that kept me connected to anyone else in this society, and I did not want him to have control over anything that he could track me with. The only thing I used the phone for was to call my mom, but he could get her number from the phone anyways. I delete all received and sent phone call numbers every night before bed. Plus, I don't have any names or numbers listed, either. I learned that lesson the hard way after a girl got a hold of my cell phone at the beginning of September, and started copying the numbers down into her cell phone. My mom started getting weird phone calls from a girl who claimed to be her daughter. I laughed when she told me. I was almost disappointed to have to leave my cell phone behind. But I could always contact my mother from a payphone. And nobody would be able to track that down. To be honest, I was kind of thankful for the fact that she would not be able to track me down from my cell phone service. I hoped she would never have to see me like that. As far as my brothers were concerned, I was away at a private school. My mom thought it would be believable after Anna's death and me not wanting to go to public school anymore. So every time I call them, I have to come up with some story about how I'm doing great and making friends and everything's cool.

But my mother knows the truth about my where a bouts. I never had a dad, so it was up to her to make decisions for me. And my mom had a similar experience when she was a much younger child and couldn't do anything to help. She had always wondered what would have happened if she had gone after the lady who took away her best friend. So she let me go. Well, she kind of had to because I had left without telling anybody and she didn't find out until I called her from Edmond, Oklahoma. That's almost two hours from Stillwater, and she didn't want to bother to come get me. So she made up a story to tell everyone else about where I am, and her and I keep in touch. I love my family like crazy, and I miss them everyday, but for now, that wasn't really on my mind.

Right now I was thinking of a way to get out of this. A way to get away from this man for now. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that he was coming after me. This whole time, I thought _he_ was the one being chased. But why now? It was bothering me extremely as I ran down the street. Maybe he was on to me the whole time…I pondered the thought, but only for a second. Then I got back to what I was doing. I never turned around to look back, but the windows on the buildings were helping me with reflections. He wasn't out of the motel yet, but I saw the door just about to open when I took a sharp left. Now I knew he was following me. And now I knew I was in danger.


	2. Chapter 2

_Ch. 2_

7:58AM

September 17, 2006

The road I had just been on was flat and not very populated with buildings, but the street I just turned onto was loaded with apartments, bookstores, and street vendors. The street went farther than I could see, but I didn't need to know where it ended. I just needed to know where it started. I ran towards one of the many apartments on the left and noticed that all of them were just being built, if not just built already.

I ran up the stairs to one of them and stopped at the front door. I took a moment to catch my breath before grabbing the handle. If these apartments were built with security alarms, then I only had one shot at this. I wasn't taking any chances. I took a deep breath, turned the knob, and opened the door quickly. I jetted inside and shut the door behind me as swiftly as possible while, sure enough, an alarm sounded. It only sounded for a mere second. As soon as the door shut the alarm went off. I knew that alarms will stop if a window or a door is quickly shut after it's opened. And I knew that if the alarm was connected to any police department, there was chance that somebody would come to investigate. It was protocol to check that stuff out. Even if it were just a cat, which is usually the case, they would at least have a construction worker check on things. But I had plenty of time to figure some way out. At least I thought I did.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I looked around the apartment. I studied it. It was completely covered in white sheets. They were hanging from the ceiling, as well as covering some furniture, and carpeting the floors. This apartment apparently didn't have stairs, but it was still a big home, because the ceiling towered above with threatening empty space. There was a small walkway from the doorway to the living room. Then the kitchen was connected to the living room on the left with a slanted wall that almost completely cut the living room's left half into two triangles. There was still an empty doorframe on either end of the wall, though. The kitchen's triangle half was really small. The other triangle side was the dining room. I walked in a circle around that slanted wall, over and over again, randomly. Then I walked across the almost empty living room, with the exception of a sofa and a small couch, into another hallway off to the right of the first walkway. It led to a 'T' in the hallway, which had a bathroom right in front, a master bedroom to the left, and an extra bedroom to the right. I took my chances and explored into the master bedroom.

This room didn't even have a door yet, and was completely empty. I forced a laugh at the emptiness, and it sounded back with multiplying echoes. For a brief moment, I thought that this place could make a good home for me. But just as soon as the thought came, it disappeared. I knew deep down that I would never own a house. I wasn't even graduating high school anymore. I didn't think that I would ever get a job that would offer me the kind of money needed for something like that. But it was too late to be feeling guilt over that right then. I still needed a place to hide in case somebody showed up. Unfortunately, my fear was answered too soon. I heard the front door open, and an alarm sounded.

I quickly, but silently, pushed myself up against the wall, right beside the doorway on the inside of the master bedroom. I dropped my bag right there. I hadn't even seen the master bathroom yet. These guys must have been right down the street. Or somebody followed me here. That didn't matter, though. I was still at a slight advantage against construction workers. I had been taking self-defense classes at night while he was asleep in a hotel or something; I had been taking them since I left home. It was part of the reason that I wasn't getting any sleep. But I wasn't stupid enough to go after somebody and not be ready to defend myself. I used to watch movies and read tons of books about stuff like that, and I finally wanted to be able to do that in real life. So I signed up for classes, and they really helped. Even before that, I had trained myself to be aware of all of my surroundings. I was voted the most observant in my entire high school last year. I was ready to take on anything. At least I felt like I could take on anything. But the gun caused a real problem. If I got him from the right angle, I would be able to get the gun away from him, but he pulled it out and tried to use it, I was completely defenseless.

I heard the door shut, but the alarm was still going off. He left it open for too long… amateur. I looked down and shook my head as I fought back a laugh. I could barely hear their footsteps over the sound of the alarm, but it was still enough to know where they were at in the house. At that moment, they were somewhere in the living room. They were heading towards the kitchen when I felt the weight shift in my room.

I looked at the other end of the wall I was leaning against where the doorway to the master bathroom was put in. I heard the door creak, and my heart skipped a beat as a cat shot out and ran across the floor and out the door right next to me. I jumped, and was surprised at how I was able to fight back a scream. In fact, I didn't make any noise at all, except for the creaking wood under my feet. But nobody would have heard that over the alarm that was still sounding. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath.

Then I put my all of my concentration into who was in the living room. I heard a quick yelp and a cat hiss, and guessed that the cat scared them, too. Again, I fought back a laugh. But it was a hypocritical laugh, and I didn't want to give in to temptation. So once again, I focused on what they were doing. I turned my head so that my nose was about to touch the white doorframe that held an empty space meant for a door. I made sure that my fingers weren't lingering too far over the edge of the frame to be seen from the hallway.

I heard the person's footsteps on the kitchen floor, and I drifted out of the room and into the pathway between the three rooms. I gently pressed my back up against this wall, and sneakily peered around the edge into the hallway that led back to the living room. The hallway I was looking through was short, so I could see one of the doorways into the kitchen from there. But I didn't see anybody standing in it. I stretched my neck out a little further and caught him in the corner of my eye. He was standing in the middle of the kitchen with his back to me, but the big window-looking hole in the slanted wall is what enabled me to see him. He was wearing the same Patriots jacket I'd seen just minutes before. How did he find me?

I was scared and mad at the same time. I was mad at myself because I apparently left a trail that was easy enough for him to follow. I was scared because I suddenly felt like I couldn't face him right now, and that is the worst feeling you could get right before a battle. Not that I thought that this was going to be a battle or anything, but it's good to be prepared for everything.

I abruptly realized that I was still poking my head out into the hallway, and he had just turned around. We were now making eye contact, but neither of us was making a move. I was frozen with fear, and he was just frozen, I guess. I decided that I couldn't take my eyes off of him now, so I moved the rest of my body into the hallway with my head and neck. "Who are you?" were the first words that came out of his mouth. I honestly didn't know where they had come from. I thought he already knew me. He had to yell over the alarm that was still blaring.

I didn't respond to him. I knew not to in situations like these. He made a step towards the exit to the kitchen, and I flinched. It was apparently noticeable, because he froze, mid-step. He slowly finished his step and took another. I didn't even move this time. I still didn't take my eyes off of him, although he was about to disappear behind the full part of the slanted wall.

I started to calculate the options I had to get out of there. I thought about running back into the bathroom and locking myself in there until the police showed up. I also considered jumping out of the window in the guest bedroom that I could see from my position. I figured that it wouldn't be that far of a drop, judging from what I remembered from seeing it from the outside. I decided to go with the last option on my mind and didn't even think twice before jumping ahead of myself.

I jerked out of the hallway I was in and dashed into the one that led to the front door. I almost immediately heard his footsteps chasing me, and knew what I was going to do next. I stopped and turned around, but pressed myself up against the wall again. Then, as I predicted, he came running around the corner and right into the fist I had just thrown out. He fell hard to the floor and yelped in pain. I had to scream with him because of the pain in my right hand knuckles. They were already turning red. His hands were on his nose momentarily, and then he grabbed my ankles and pulled my feet out from underneath me as he cursed at me. I fell with a thud on my butt and saw the anger that pierced his eyes. He was trying to get up, but I pulled him back down to his hands and knees. I was now face to face with the killer of my best friend.

I suddenly felt a rage burn inside of me, and I threw out the hardest fist I could ball up. He rolled over onto his side with pain almost instantly. I didn't even mind my pain anymore. All I could think about was this man and what he's done. I was almost thankful to be there, doing that to him. And although I remembered the gun, my face still scrunched up with rage as I got up and started kicking him. But he grabbed my foot the second time I kicked and twisted my ankle until I had to swirl my body with it. Twisting my body like that caused me to fall again, but I quickly recovered and was up and running before him. I shot back into the leading hallway, got to the fork, and made a left, back into the master bedroom. I had only a second to think about the choices, and chose the bathroom.

I exploded through the bathroom door, and swiftly tried to lock it behind me, but as I was closing it, I saw him coming up behind me. I tried to close the door on him, but he was naturally stronger than me. He burst into the bathroom, which was fairly small. In doing so, he smashed me up against the bathroom sinks, which were right behind the door. I screamed in pain as my back was shoved up against a jutting marble sink top. He slammed the door shut and grabbed me before I fell from the pain in my back. He threw me onto the floor, but I was able to rebound myself back up before he was able to do anything. It hurt my back like heck, but I knew that my life was held on the sake of my being able to keep my balance. As I came back up, he met me with a startling fist to the face. I repaid him with a knee to the stomach, and a head butt. We were both out after the head thing. We both grabbed our heads in pain, but I also grabbed the door handle around him, and opened it into him, just as he did me when he entered the bathroom. I ran outside into the room and stopped. I noticed an unfamiliar silence. The alarm had gone off.

I listened closely for any other sign that somebody else might be here now, and I noticed my bag was still sitting right where I left it. But before I could run over to grab it, my presence was met with another from behind. The patriot man put his arm around my neck and put me in a headlock. But before he did anything we heard voices and both of us froze. One of the voices was talking into a walkie-talkie. The other was talking through it. "Stupid kid," we heard the man in the apartment say and somebody else mumbled something through the walkie-talkie. The patriot man around my neck was now loosening his grip on me, but we both stood as still as possible, in the center of the master bedroom. I was unbelievably surprised when he let go of me altogether. I was so frozen with shock that I barely started breathing again when he let me go. But it still took everything in me not to attack him right there. The only thing that held me back was that there was a man here of bigger worries to the both of us now.

The patriot man walked over to the edge of the doorframe where I used to be standing. He listened carefully to the extra man in the house. We both heard footsteps heading down the main hallway towards the fork in the hallways. The patriot man turned around and gave me an anxious look. I had to smile at the sight of his bloody nose, and bruising left eye. He smiled back at me, so I guess he thought I was smiling in happiness at him. What a jerk! Then he swiftly, but quietly, bent down, picked up my bag, and wrapped the straps around his hands, making the whole charade look similar to a boxing glove.

I took a silent step towards him and reached my arms out to tell him no, but he apparently never got my message because when the walkie-talkie man appeared in the doorway, the patriot guy lunged that backpack against his face so hard that I heard the crack of my ipod inside it. Walkie-talkie guy fell hard on his back as patriot guy stepped over him quickly, and started running down the hallways. I was fast to pick up speed as I shot after him. I just barely got a hold of him as he rushed through the front door to the apartment. I got a good grip on the back of his jacket, and pulled him back towards me. But he swung his arm around in a way that the backpack was now coming at me. I ducked and let go of him, causing him to fall, yet again. But this time he fell on the stairs that he was running down, and couldn't get up fast enough to stop me. I grabbed my bag, stepped over him, and was about to take off running up the street when I remembered the tags. I turned back around, shot up the stairs again, and grabbed them out of his pocket. "I believe these are mine." I stated right before I took off down the stairs, and then up the street. I was halfway up the street when I first heard the sirens. I knew the walkie-talkie guy had called this in, but I didn't expect them to be that fast. I kept running, hoping that they wouldn't catch up to me. Unfortunately, the sirens were starting to come from behind me. And they were getting closer.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3 

8:03AM

September 19, 2006

I had decided to hide behind one of the buildings as the police came and searched everything. I didn't even get a chance to see what had happened to the Patriot guy before I made an impromptu decision to head back to my car and drive away. It was after the police had spent almost an hour looking, though.

I drove for four hours straight after that, just running. I was getting the heck out of that town. I ended up getting out of that whole state; I was now in Texas again. Then I spent the next day or so just driving around, not exactly knowing where I was heading. I was trying to figure everything out, and I got so caught up in everything one day that I knew I needed home again; so I started heading for Oklahoma. Soon, I ended up in a little town named Pampa. It was near Borger, Texas, which was close to the border to Oklahoma. I was relieved to be heading back. I wanted to be in Stillwater on September 21st for Anna's birthday, so I was glad that I was going back home.

Now I decided to stop for breakfast at a Waffle House. I walked in and sat down on one of the barstools at the front. There was a couple sitting in each other's arms in a corner booth in the back. There were also two men at the other end of the bar, but they were older men who were just chatting amongst themselves. And that was about it. There was nobody behind the counter at first, so I just sat there with my backpack and, again, tried to figure this out. I had come up with three possibilities to how the patriots guy was at that motel with my tags.

The first conclusion was that he had figured me out and was trying to track me down to get me off of his trail. The second was that he coincidently was in the same motel as me and was just a thief who didn't know who I was at first. But that thought sounded stupid because he had chased me after I left. And my third possibility was that he was after me in the first place and used Anna to get me to want to follow him out of the security of my home state. But I hated the thought of that being true, so I was trying really hard to push it aside.

I suddenly saw a man appear behind the counter. He had come out of the back room, I guessed, and I was just so lost in thought that my eyes didn't process it. He was tall and older than me, but he was still young in general. He was a waiter or something, I inferred because he had an apron on. He was now drying a mug with what used to be a white rag. It was now a plethora of colors that had stained it. I was going to buy something when I first walked in, but now I realized that I had honestly come here to think about what was going on without also having to worry about driving. Basically, I had only come in here to get a break, not to eat. The waiter hadn't even looked at me yet. He just sat there and dried the same mug insistently.

The two guys at the end of the bar were still talking quietly, and the couple in the back was still making-out. I looked at the couple and remembered when I used to have somebody who cared about me like that. His name was James, and he was my other half. He was everything that I wanted to be and more. We were together for over two years when I caught him cheating on me with a girl named Stephanie. I had kind of known her, but never really got to talk to her. But she wasn't the one I was mad at. James and I had both agreed to wait until after marriage to have sex, but apparently he couldn't hold his end of the promise. I wanted to rid any thought of him from my mind after our break-up in May. Anna was there to comfort me and helped me realize that I could move on with my life because he wasn't really worth it. Of course, she let me wallow for a little over a month, but then she slowly started to ease me back into the world again by taking me on little outings in public. I slowly began to regain my social strength and learned to live with it.

"Are you going to buy anything?" were the words that woke me up from my daydreaming. They were the waiter's words, and he spoke them with concern. I shook my head and looked at him in confusion.

"What?" I asked back.

"Are you going to be ordering anything?" he responded, again looking concerned. I looked around for a second to remember why I had come in here. "Do you want some water or something? You look wiped out," he stated. I looked down at myself. My jeans were the same as two days ago. My hair was still up in the same ponytail. My shirt was only changed once, and I hadn't showered in three days. I was going off of deodorant. I looked back at him, and he half-laughed. I had to laugh with him, but mine, too, was a half-laugh.

"I'm fine, but I will go for that water," I smiled.

"One glass of cold water coming right up!" he said with an enthusiastic smile and a wink. He turned around to grab an unopened bottle of water and a clean glass. He poured the water into the glass while saying, "So what's a girl like you doing in a town like Borger?"

"Borger? I thought I was in Pampa," I said, confused as I took a drink.

"Pampa? Where's that?" he asked teasingly. I eyed him playfully.

"Apparently not here," I added, while looking down at my glass that was half-full of the water. He picked up a new cloth and started washing down the counter in front of me.

"That still doesn't answer my question," he said without looking up at me. I thought about it for a little while before answering.

"I'm visiting…Well, I was suppose to be visiting my grandma in Pampa, but I guess that didn't turn out too well," I lied.

"What's your grandma's name?" he asked, momentarily stopping his work, and leaning over the counter with his arms spread out in a slight 'V'. His elbows were locked and his muscles were flexing. I eyed him suspiciously, but thought it was safe to lie again.

"Aggie. Her name's Aggie," I spoke almost triumphantly. He smiled.

"Grandma Aggie? You got lost while heading to Pampa to visit your grandma Aggie?" he laughed as he spoke. I had to laugh with him. It was a funny story that he apparently didn't buy at all. He looked down and shook his head playfully. "That's funny." He smiled again.

"Hey, don't be making fun of my grandma Aggie now!" I said sarcastically, but playfully. We both smiled at each other, but I wasn't flirting with him because he looked at least seven years older than me.

"What's your name?" he asked hopefully. I thought about it for a second.

"Christie. Christie Walker." I answered. I had been planning to use my fake name from day one. Plus, I did know a Christie Walker, and I thought she was pretty cool.

"Bret Hamilton." He stuck his hand out, and I shook it happily. We both smiled.

"You look like you've been having a rough time. Is everything going okay for you and…uh…your grandma Aggie?" He spoke that last part mockingly with a poor radio announcer voice. We both laughed again.

"Well, to be honest, I've hit a bit of a rough spot the past couple of days, with getting lost and all. But it's nothing I can't handle." I grinned at him.

"You're very confident for a girl who ended up almost two miles away from where she needs to be," he said, smiling back.

"Nah. But what about you? How did you end up here? No offense, but you don't really look like the small town kind of guy," I noted.

"Well," he started, "I'm not. You see, I don't really work here. I…uh…I killed the real owner of this place because I'm…uh…stalking somebody." He was speaking completely sarcastically, but I had to play along.

"Really?" I asked back, dubiously. I folded my arms underneath me on the counter and leaned in really close to hear him.

"Yep. I put the owner's body in the back closet, and the girl I'm stalking is in here right now." He did the same thing and gently leaned his face in.

I gasped playfully. "Really? Is it that girl back there fondling that other guy? Maybe you're stalking her because she's an ex-girlfriend, and somebody's jealous." I had nudged my head back in the direction of the couple.

"Nope," he spoke simply. "She's sitting right in front of me." He smiled. I laughed lightly and gently shook my head, but never took my eyes off of him.

Then he started to look past me. He looked confused for a second, then nodded past me and asked, "That's not your truck, is it?" I turned around in my seat and saw a man looking in through the window to my '05 Ford F-150. I immediately knew who it was but was unable to process the full blow of it. I recognized the police officer from the apartment that I was in a couple of days ago. He had a bandage around his nose from when the patriots guy had smacked him with my backpack. At that time I had thought that he was just a construction worker or something. I guess not. He looked a lot older now than at the apartment. He had a balding spot on the middle of his head. Like Mr. Fantaski did, except his hair was red, and he was skinny. Definitely not like Mr. Fantaski. He stopped looking through my window and walked through the doors to the diner.

I didn't have a chance to answer Bret because the officer walked in too soon. When he first walked through the doors, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just run because there was nowhere to run to. But I couldn't just sit there either. _How in the world was he able to follow me all the way into Texas? _I was having a mini-panic attack, but on the outside I was able to keep my cool. I turned around and stared down, focusing on my glass of water.

"Can I help you sir?" I heard Bret ask. I didn't have to see his face to tell that Bret apparently didn't like this cop already. I felt the officer get a little closer. I saw the guys at the end of the bar out of the corner of my eyes. They stopped talking and turned their heads, as if to avoid the officer's glance. I also heard the couple in the back start laughing. I guess it was at the bandage that stretched across the officer's face. I had to smile at the memory of the moment it had happened.

The officer just stood there. He wasn't saying anything, and I wasn't facing him to be able to see where his eyes were. The kids in the back had abruptly stopped laughing so I guessed that he had just glared at them or something.

"I said can I help you, sir?" Bret grew impatient. Again, I couldn't see what the cop's facial expression was, but I guessed that it couldn't have been pretty. I heard him slowly make his way to three stools down from me. When he sat down, I glanced over at him, but luckily he wasn't looking at me.

"Can I just have a glass of water?" the officer asked. His voice had a deep southern accent and was scratchy as he spoke slowly.

Bret turned around to grab another glass and another water. The officer took it and continued to look around the diner. When his eyes glanced across me, he paused. I quickly turned my head away, but I could still feel his eyes on me. When I gently turned my head towards him, he was about to say something, but somebody else walked into the diner, preventing him of speech at the moment.

I gently turned my body to see, yet again, the Patriot's jacket. I immediately turned back around and sighed deeply, knowing that there was no way for me to get out of this one. But I did smile at the bruise that was still covering his left eye. The cop apparently did not recognize him because he turned around to look at him, but then turned back to Bret and didn't worry about it. The Patriot guy hadn't seen my face yet, but he did stand there at the door for a moment.

"How's it going Bret?" the Patriot guy asked. His accent was as sharp as it was in New Mexico. I turned around and looked up at Bret. He had a look on his face. A look that said he knew the Patriot guy. He was looking at him incredulously with the hint of a smile, and a light in his eyes. I was appalled that this man had lied to me. _He's helping the Patriot's guy!_ Now I was caught with three people to run from, but nowhere to run to. My life pretty much sucked at this point. I even saw the two older guys get up and walk out. But I looked up at Bret one more time. He was still caught up with the Patriot guy.

"I'm doing just perfect." He spoke almost sarcastically, but glared at the patriot guy to whole time.

I turned around again, and I have no idea why, but I smiled. I quickly realized that I was smiling at the Patriot guy. I was actually smiling _at_ him. I swiftly turned back around to Bret. He was still looking at the Patriot guy, but his smile was gone. I turned to the officer. He was looking at Bret as if he were trying to figure something out in his head.

"Do you know who that truck belongs to, son?" he asked Bret. He took a moment to think about it.

"No, sir," Bret answered, not taking his eyes off of the Patriot guy. Judging by the way he was looking at him, I was starting to think that they were enemies, not friends.

I turned around to watch the Patriot guy again. I knew that he had seen me by now, but he wasn't doing anything about it. He was walking over to the stool that was two stools to my left, though. The officer was on my right, so I was pretty much covered from both sides now.

"Can I get a water?" the patriot guy asked.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?" Bret asked the officer while holding his pointer finger up to tell the Patriot's guy to 'hold on'.

"Well, actually," the officer started while reaching into one of his pockets to grab a piece of paper, "you can help me find this woman." He showed the picture to Bret. I didn't see it, but I already knew whose picture it was. And if it wasn't mine, then it was a pretty big coincidence that Bret's face immediately looked worried.

"Please, can I have some water? I'm thirsty," the Patriot guy asked, getting irritable. Again, Bret held up a finger as he listened to the officer go on.

"She's in a heap of trouble with the states of New Mexico and Oklahoma. And now even Texas. And, uh…it'd be a real help if you could tell me where she is." The officer was playing tricks with my mind. I wasn't in trouble with any states. He just wanted to make me sound that bad because it was my bag that gave him the bandage that defaced him. Plus, he had already seen me, and I know that was my picture he showed Bret._ So why won't he arrest me? _

"Um…well…sir…" Bret stuttered. He was apparently as confused as I was.

"Hello! Water!" the Patriot guy yelled, obviously not paying attention to anything that was happening.

"Damn it, Matt! Will you shut up?" Bret screamed back, his voice tense. I saw the couple get up and quickly leave. I got up and began to follow them. I was about to open the door to leave, but the officer's voice sent chills down my spine.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…Kalli." He spoke slowly.

I froze, mid-step. _I was so close!_ I slowly turned around. I saw the look in Bret's eyes, along with the Patriot guy's, whose real name was apparently Matt.

"Her name's not Kalli," Bret laughed, "it's Christie." But as soon as the officer looked at him, his smile went away. I looked over at Matt. He was watching me suspiciously, just like he did at the motel. I just knew that he was laughing at me right now. But all I was really worried about was getting out of there without being arrested for something that I didn't even do.

"Not Kalli, you say?" the officer said, while also looking at me suspiciously. "Tisk, tisk, Kalli. You've been lying to these poor innocent people." He spoke just as slowly as before. I took a deep breath to try to clear my mind, so that he wouldn't get inside my head. I didn't want him making me think that I had done something wrong.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," I finally said. I looked over at Matt, and he smiled warmly. Bret looked confused again.

"Kalli, don't play with me. You're in a load of trouble as it is, missy." The officer pointed to his bandage. "And, uh…that is your truck out there, isn't it?" he asked. I looked at him confused.

"Look, her name's not Kalli. It's Christie," Matt said. I looked at him surprisingly. _He lied for me? Wait a minute! He just wants to get me out of this so that he can deal with me himself._

"What did you just say?" the officer asked Matt. I looked at Bret who looked confused and scared out of his mind. He looked like he wanted to get the heck out of there. Luckily for him, it showed to everyone.

"Why don't you go into the back room now, son. You've done enough, and you shouldn't be in here right now. Thank you for the water," the officer told him. Bret nodded and ran back through some door to the kitchen.

"And you are?" the officer asked Matt. Matt sat there and thought about it for a second.

"The name's Matt. No last name, so don't ask. And Christie here is riding with me, so, no, that's not her truck," Matt answered, again with that brilliant English accent.

"Is that so? Then why do I have a picture of her here that says 'wanted' underneath it?" The officer held my picture up to Matt. Matt got up and took it out of his hands. He looked at it for a second, and then held it up towards me. He was apparently comparing me to the picture.

"That looks nothing like Christie!" he exclaimed. "And I would appreciate it if you would stop harassing my…friend now," he stuttered, but handed the picture back to the cop. Matt smiled at me. I glared back.

"Look, boy, I realize that she may be another pretty face that you believe is innocent, but I know better. I don't have time for your silly games. Now I have given her a chance to turn herself in, and she chose not to, so I'm going to have to take her by force. Now step aside," the officer explained while Matt had slowly put himself between the cop and me.

"Look, now I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," I said, in major confusion.

"You don't have to say anything, Christie. You have the right to remain silent," Matt said with his head cocked towards me.

"Oh, yeah, like you should be talking!" I started.

"Would you just shut-up, I'm trying to save your life here!" Matt was completely turned around to me now.

"All right, Kalli. Let's go," the officer said while walking towards me and pulling handcuffs off of his belt.

"Wait a minute…just hold on for a second." Matt turned around and put his hands out to block the officer. He slowly put them down and said, "If you're going to take her in for what she did, then you're going to have to take me for what I've done, too." I looked up at him incredulously then at the cop.

"And what did you do?" the officer asked him sarcastically, almost putting the cuffs down.

"Well, let's just say that I've hit you once. Don't think I won't do it again," Matt said arrogantly with a smile. I had to smile at that, too. I saw the look on the officer's face go from deep thought to remembrance.

"You!" he yelled out in disgust. Matt's smile went away, but he reached for his hip. I thought he was going to grab his gun, but he just grabbed a small jar out of his jacket's pocket. He hit it over the officer's head before the cop could pull his gun out. I stared in disbelief as the officer hit the floor in pain. Matt immediately turned around and rushed through the doors.

"Son of a…" I heard the officer curse in pain as I turned around to follow Matt. Matt evidently ran to _my_ truck, other than _his_ form of transportation. He was about to get in when he saw me still standing in front of the diner.

"Are you coming or not?" he asked, apparently thinking that I was actually going with him.

"Excuse me?" I shot back. "You just busted a police officer's head in with a beer bottle! You really think that I'm going to get into the same car as you?"

"Okay, first of all, he deserved it. Second of all, it was a little glass jar, not a beer bottle. I'm not stupid enough to drive drunk. Third of all, you're apparently as much of a criminal as me. And fourth of all, either way, I'm taking your truck. So either you come with me now and get it back later, or you never see it again," he tried to reason. Then the look on his face went from being in a hurry to being scared. "Bloody officer, six o'clock!" he yelled to warn me, then jumped in the car. I turned around and saw the officer running at the doors with a tiny scrap on his head where he was bleeding. He burst out of the diner as I ran to my truck and got in at the passenger side. I quickly put on my seatbelt while Matt turned the car on and put it in reverse. We sped out of there while the officer cursed at the top of his lungs. "Man, I didn't even get my water." Matt tried to say quietly to himself. I realized that he wasn't using his English accent anymore.

_I knew he was faking it!_ I was still catching my breath as Matt drove. About five minutes later, we were driving in complete silence while I watched exactly where he was going. But he kept driving in a big circle around the outskirts of town, so I figured he was actually lost.

"Make a right up here," I spoke softly as I pointed to the correct street. "It will take us to I-27 south. From there, we'll hit some back roads that will take us to I-20 east. We'll follow that all the way into Oklahoma. The least you can give me is a ride back home." Matt looked at me incredulously.

"The least I can give _you_? I'm pretty sure it was _me_ who saved _your_ butt back there. If anything, you owe me," Matt was smiling. I didn't even respond to him. I was scared to death that I was in the same car as the guy who murdered my best friend's family. I knew what he was capable of. At first I just wanted to find him so that I could ask him how a person could do something like that. But I found out that he had a gun, which changed everything. I was no longer trying to find him, but, rather, run away from him. Yet there I was, sitting next to him in my truck.

"Wow," I heard him whisper. "So you, uh…You really know your way around here, don't you?" he asked.

"Not really. I just know how to observe my surroundings when I pass through them, that's all," I answered quietly, still looking out the window. I saw him look at me with concern through his reflection off of the window.

"So your real name's Kalli, huh?" he asked.

"Yep," I said simply.

"Kalli…That's a pretty name." He smiled. My eyes were just starting to tear up.

"Are you all right?" he asked after a minute in a voice that matched his concerned reflection. I was actually crying now. It was soft, but you could still hear it in my voice.

"What do you think? I'm in my frickin car with a guy who not only murdered my best friend's family, but also tried to kill me two days ago! Plus, I just watched him hit a police officer over the head with a glass bottle! How do you think I am?" I yelled at him. I was looking at him now, and I can tell you one thing; my face did not have a smile on it.

"Hey, woah! Slow down! Now, what?" he yelled back.

I grunted in frustration through my crying. I buried my head in my hands and just cried.

"Hey," he said calmly as he reached his hand out and touched my shoulder sympathetically.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed with a scratchy voice. His hand shot back over his head like he was surrendering. His other hand was still on the wheel, though. He brought it back down to the wheel slowly as I positioned myself with my back up against the door so that I could watch his every move through my teary eyes.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I do know that I saved your life back there in that diner!" he began to get frustrated, too.

"Don't lie to me!" I said through gritted teeth as I leaned forward and slapped his arm. I thought it was going to be my last move ever, but he just flinched and glared at me. "I know that was you in her house! I saw you in that window! Don't tell me that wasn't you!" He didn't respond to me. He just kept his eyes forward on the road. I noticed that he was slowing down near a park. I had seen this park twice when I first drove into this town yesterday. It had two swing sets, a teeter-totter, and a merry-go-round. When he stopped he waited. I was so scared that I had completely stopped crying, but my cheeks were still stained from the tears. He just sat there, facing forwards with both hands on the wheel.

"How did you know her?" he asked simply and quietly without looking at me.

"I was her best friend," I said just as quietly. He turned his head the other way and shut his eyes.

He finally turned his head to look at me. He had small tears in his eyes, too. He nodded slowly and softly. "You really think…that I tried to kill you a couple days ago? You think that's what that was? You think that I was the one who killed Anna's family?"

"Don't you dare say her name!" I screamed and hit him again. His eyes released a tear as he blinked in slight pain, but that was all. He shook his head in disbelief.

"That was me you saw in the window that day, yes, but I didn't kill them," he, again, said softly. "I was warning them. I was warning them to get out of the house…to leave the city. I was supposed to save them. I was just trying to help."

"What? No, you're lying." I shook my head in disbelief. This was too much to handle right now.

"I'm not! I was trying to save them, but I got there too late. I couldn't help them. You've got to believe me, Kalli. I was trying to help them," he semi-pleaded. His voice was scratchy, too, from his crying. I didn't respond. I just sat there, staring at him in disbelief.

"So you're saying that you were in the house, but you didn't kill them?" I finally asked, although it sounded more like a statement. He looked at me confused.

"Yes," he started, but I cut him off.

"Then why drive all the way out to New Mexico, huh? Why leave the state? And what about two days ago in that apartment. When you had that gun. And when you stole my tags? What the heck was that?"

"You were following me! I had to get out of the state because my prints were all over her house, and I knew the cops would track it back to me. But then I realized you had been following me since Oklahoma. I didn't know you or why you were doing it, but I was trying to get away from you at that point! Then I was trying to figure out who you were, and why you followed me! After I knew that I'd lost you in Madrid, I tried researching about you, but I didn't have anything on you. I had no idea who you were. That's why I took your tags. I needed something to connect it all together. And when I saw her name on one of them, I knew. I knew I had to give them back and never try to find you again. But you ran. You ran away from me, so I had to follow you. And the apartment thing was when I was going to give them back, but you started hitting me first. I was just defending myself. Why do you think I was so caught up in getting the heck out of there once the cop showed up? I promise, I had no intention of hurting you," he finished.

I thought about what he was saying, and it did make sense, but he could have easily been lying. This guy was definitely not on my trustworthy list. "Then what's with the hair and the contacts and the fake accent and stuff? And why do you have a gun? And why did you follow me here?" I asked more openly. I was calm now, but speaking normally. His tone of voice was also back to normal.

"That's just…too complicated," he said as he turned away.

"Complicated? That's just too complicated? No. What's complicated is that I'm facing the man who I saw in my best friend's house the day she died, and he's telling me that he didn't do it. What's complicated is that the same man is telling me that he stole my property to get to know me. What's complicated—" I started again, but he cut me off.

"Okay, okay. I get it!" he sounded frustrated again.

"Look, all I'm saying is that I at least deserve to know the little things," I added. He turned his eyes towards the front and sat there, waiting for a moment.

"I got into some trouble with the wrong people, that's all," he finally said, but without looking at me. I looked at him confused. "Look, I'll explain everything else to you later. Right now, we have to get out of here," he said, looking in the rear view mirror. I didn't see what he was looking at, but I didn't care. I was finally getting some answers, and he wasn't going to stop giving them to me now. I reached for the keys to the car with every intention of taking them out to prevent us from leaving, but Matt grabbed my hand when I was about to touch the keys, and I felt a spark. Not a spark as in an electrical current, but the feeling you get when somebody touches you softly for the first time. I looked up at his calm face, barely stained with tears. We looked into each other's eyes for just a moment. I saw regret in there, yet I knew that mine were serene. Sirens wailing in the background ended our moment. I turned around to look out of the back window, but Matt was apparently two steps ahead of me because he had already put the truck in motion by the time I turned back around. He quickly got back onto the road and sped to an intersection at the end. I told him to go right, and we were off towards the interstate. He asked me where I wanted to go again and I told him to head back towards Stillwater. He thought about it, and then agreed. We were on our way.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4 

10:37AM

September 19, 2006

It was about two hours later that we arrived in a little town off of the highway. We didn't really talk much the whole way, but he did tell me that the cop's name was Officer Brendan. He said he had done his research on the cop after the incident at the apartments. He also told me that he had gotten away that day because he was able to hide in another apartment that the police didn't search.

We stopped at a gas station in town, and as Matt was filling the truck up, I was watching his every move. Putting gasoline in a potential murderer's hands wasn't exactly the brightest thing in the book. I did trust him to fill the truck up with gas safely, though. I knew that without the truck, he had no way out of this place. But, to be honest, I was just a little worried about what he could do to other _people_ with it. When he was finished, he looked up at the 'pay at pump' sign. He opened his door, but didn't get in.

"You got any cash or cards on you?" he asked. I felt my pockets, and then shook my head. He sighed. He just stood there with the door open, thinking. "All right, I've got it. Start the car and be ready for me. I'm probably going to be running fast, so be on your game."

"Excuse me?" I asked before really thinking about it. "No," I said as I shook my head. "You are not going to rob this place!"

"Would you keep your voice down!" he half yelled as he looked around to see if anybody heard. Then he looked me dead in the eye. "Look, we need money, and I'm open to any other suggestions if you have some." I gave him a stern look. I noticed he was smiling a little too big for a guy who was about to rob a gas station.

"Look, I don't know what to tell you, but you better figure something out because I am _not_ going to help you rob this place," I said quickly with a loud whisper.

"Hey, calm down. I was just kidding. I have cash," Matt said smiling. He started laughing at me. "I can't believe you thought I was going to rob this place." He was still laughing at my reaction.

"Don't scare me like that! As far as I'm concerned, you're still this criminal murderer slash robber guy. So just…don't do stuff like that," I said, upset that he scared me.

His smile went away instantly. He stared at me for a second before slamming the door shut. He folded his hands together and put them on his head to breathe while he leaned with his back up against the truck. I knew I'd hit a nerve. I was starting to almost believe him. I mean, I had just spent two hours with him, and he didn't try to harm me in any way. And he just filled the truck up with gas with every intention of driving the both of us out of here again.

He opened the door, but didn't say anything at first. He stood there looking at me. Then he began to look around the truck at everything. He pulled a rag out of his jacket pocket, similar to the one used by Bret at the Waffle House. He started to wipe everything down, including the steering wheel and pedals.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he wiped his seatbelt. He threw me the rag.

"Wipe your side down good. And grab your stuff. I've got an idea. Don't leave anything behind that could be traced back to you," he said, and then closed the door. He ran quickly into the gas station. I didn't even have time to ask him what was going on, but I did know that I didn't have time to ignore him, either. I wiped down my side of the car, then I grabbed my bag and spent the next few minutes throwing all the clothes and CD's that were on the floor into it. I also put the few unopened sodas I had recently bought in it. I made sure there was nothing left that somebody could trace to me.

I put the bag on my back and hopped out of the truck. I started to walk towards the gas station when Matt came out with a new hat on his head. I stopped and looked at him in confusion. Another man then followed him and I noticed that the two men had switched clothes. Matt was no longer wearing his Patriot's jacket, but rather a Panic! At the Disco t-shirt. Matt told me to head towards my left to the corner of the gas station. I obeyed and started heading towards the single car in the side parking lot. I could tell it was a Honda Accord Hybrid. It was white and had a Texas license plate.

When Matt and I were walking side by side again, I asked him what was going on. He just told me to get into the car and he'd explain it all in a minute. I got into the car, and he followed. But he didn't start the car. Instead, he watched the stranger with his jacket get into my truck and drive off quickly.

"What's he doing? Where's he going with my truck? What the heck did you?" I yelled as I watched him drive off with my Sweet-sixteen birthday present.

"Shh…Just wait." Matt calmed me down without even looking at me. He was watching my truck the entire time. "Come on…come on…take it…" I heard him whisper to himself. I looked at him in confusion and anger.

"What is going on, Matt?" I asked as calmly as I could manage. He started to smile, and when I turned around, I saw two police cars come around the corner of a Wendy's and take off after my truck. But the truck was long gone down the interstate by that time.

"That's it," Matt said, still smiling. He turned the car on now and we started off. We headed back towards the highway again. I sat there in confusion without asking, but Matt started explaining anyway. "While I was filling up the truck, I saw those cops watching my every move. I thought it was nothing at first, but then I saw them just barely disappear behind that corner to that Wendy's. They were waiting for us. And then I saw this kid pickpocket a guy for almost 60 bucks. At first when I told him I'd seen that, I asked him for the money to pay for our gas, but as I predicted, he said no. Then I offered him your truck for his car, and I told him that I could easily tell those two cops around that corner there that he was illegally 60 dollars richer. So, of course, he agreed. I just forgot to mention the part where your truck is wanted by the state of Texas." He smiled.

"That would explain your shirt, but wait a minute…So you're telling me that you gave a random kid criminal my 2005 Ford F-150 that I got for my 16th birthday?" I asked, upset.

"Look, we needed a way out! Besides, now we're free to go wherever we want to. The police have no idea where we are, and we'll figure something out about the fact that we're low on cash later." He looked at me with a triumphant smile on his face. I shook my head and laughed.

"You really know your way off of the police's radar, don't you?" I asked him while looking out my window.

"Not really. I just know how to study my surroundings and check out my options, that's all," he answered smugly. I had to laugh at that. I could tell that this was going to be a long car ride.

It was about another two hours later that I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since dinner yesterday, and that was at about five o'clock P.M. It was now around 12:30 in the afternoon, and I was really hungry. I suggested we stop off at the next exit and grab something to eat.

"And how do you suppose we pay for it? I don't have enough money to buy us meals and hotels all the way to Oklahoma," Matt answered me too rudely. I sighed again and stared out of the window. I heard him sigh, too. "What do you say we go get a meal off of the next exit, and we'll figure out what to do about hotels later?"

"And how do you suppose we pay for it?" I asked him sarcastically. He gave me a stern look.

"We'll think of something. I mean, we'll bust tables and do dishes or something, I don't know, but we've got two masterminds here! Who knows the amount of possibilities we can come up with? But we have to spend our money wisely." He spoke with a smile on his face.

"Two masterminds? What's that supposed to mean?" I asked with a laugh.

"Well, I mean, you were able to follow me all the way from Oklahoma to New Mexico without me finding out. That makes you pretty darn smart. And I was able to follow you without you knowing, too. Plus, we've been able to get away from the cops three times now--the police! I'd say we make up two pretty good masterminds." He still had that same smile on his face. I had to laugh again.

"Fine. We can bust tables at a restaurant or something. But first, tell me how much money you have, exactly." I commanded him.

"About twenty-five bucks," he answered with a frown. I saw what he meant. That really wasn't a large amount of money at all for two people on a road trip.

We decided to hit the next exit and found a Denny's that we thought we would clean tables for. The manager said we could, but we had to work for four hours before we could eat. We decided it was the best deal we would ever get, and we said yes. About three and a half hours later we were just about done with our 'shift', so we started to eat. I was eating a grilled cheese sandwich with some fries, and Matt had a BLT with some fries. We both got Dr. Pepper for our drink. We were sitting in the back enjoying our meals when the manager came in.

"Hey guys, how are you doing?" he asked.

"We're doing great. And we want to thank you so much for allowing us to do this. You have no idea how much it means to finally find someone on the road who has such a kind heart," I replied politely. The manager looked me up and down for a second.

"No, really…Thank you," he said with a smile. I started to look at him, disgusted. Matt was so caught up in his BLT, though, that he didn't notice anything wrong. "Well, I just wanted to tell you that we close at 4:30 on Monday's, so I was wondering if you could stay until then, too."

"Of course," I responded as polite as before. He left, but got one more look at me before he did. I really didn't think that I was much to look at. I mean, I had a good size butt and all, but I didn't really do anything with my hair, and I wore the same clothes all the time. My blue eyes were just normal blue eyes, so nothing too special there. And I'm not anorexic or anything, but I am pretty skinny. And that, in turn, left me with just a B-cup. Plus, I'm not all that tall. I thought guys liked tall girls, so I don't know where they find me attractive.

"Did you see the way he looked at me?" I asked Matt after the manager had been gone for a few minutes.

"What?" Matt said with his mouth full.

"The manager…He was checking me out. I hate it when guys do that," I said, sounding almost frustrated.

"Well, you can't blame them," he said, again, with his mouth full. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Well, I mean…you are," he started with no intention to finish.

"I am what?" I asked, smiling at what I was making him say.

"Well, you know," he said uncomfortably, "hot…and stuff."

I smiled and laughed lightly while gently shaking my head at him. He smiled back, but he was still uncomfortable. "We should get back to work," he finally said. I agreed, and we hurried to finish eating and then got back to work. About half an hour after the restaurant closed, we were finishing up the kitchen so we could leave. Matt went to clear the last few tables while I finished up the dishes that were in the kitchen at the time being. I was putting the plates away in the back room when the manager came in.

"You still doing all right?" he asked. I jumped because I hadn't known he was there yet.

"Yeah, I'm still fine," I said with my hand over my heart to show my shock. I took a deep breath and turned back around to finish stacking the plates. I started to notice that the room I was in was really small. It had three metal racks for the plates, one against every wall except where the door was. The room could have fit twelve men standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a little square, but probably no more than that.

I turned back around to find that the manager hadn't left the room yet. "Can I help you with something else?" I asked him, confused as to why he was still standing there. I quickly realized he had closed the door behind him. I didn't know if there was a lock anywhere on it, but either way, this was not good.

"Yeah, you could say that," he said as he looked me up and down again. He took a step forward and put his hand on my shoulder. He started to lean his face in, but I quickly pushed his hand off my shoulder and used my other hand to force his face away.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled. He slapped me across my right cheek and grabbed my shoulders roughly. He pushed me up against one of the metal shelves. A couple plates fell and I heard Matt call out my name in question from the kitchen just beyond the door. The manager tried to hold me still as I struggled to break free from his grip. He was small for a guy, but he was still bigger and apparently stronger than me. "Get off of me!" I shrieked, my voice piercing even my own ears. I kept screaming, and I heard the door trying to be opened, which meant that it was locked from the inside. I thought that was stupid, but this wasn't exactly a moment to be thinking about the restaurant's security issues.

I was finally able to push the manager away from me, but as I tried to run away from him, he grabbed me and pushed me to the ground. He started trying to take off my pants, but my belt was apparently a little too difficult for him. I was trying with all of my strength to get him off of me, but he wouldn't budge. He had my legs locked tight, stretched out underneath his. He was fumbling to get my belt off as I slapped him and pushed him as much as possible. All of a sudden, the door burst open, just barely missing my head as it flew by.

The manager looked up in shock, and I knew that that was my moment. I shoved him off of me and threw his body up against one of the racks to the side. I was about to get up on my own when Matt's hand was stretched out to help me. I took it happily, and jumped up into his arms, crying on his shoulder. He held me for a mere second before practically throwing me out of the room so that he could deal with the manager. He grabbed the manager off of the ground and threw his back up against another one of the racks.

"No! Don't hurt him!" I yelled at Matt just before he hit him.

"What?" Matt yelled back, angry and confused.

"You can't hurt him! If you touch him, he'll call the police, and they'll track it back to us, and we'll be right back where we started. Don't hurt him," I said through my tears.

"Then what do we do with him? You can't just expect me to let him get away with this, can you?" Matt yelled back. The manager was just shifting his head with the conversation.

"Just leave him. I want to get out of here anyway." I was still crying.

"No! I'm not going to let him off the hook that easily!" Matt screamed back. I looked at him pleadingly.

"Matt…please…" I said slowly.

Matt just stood there, glaring at me for not wanting to punish the manager. Finally, he let go of the manager but still got in his face. Matt's face was inches from his, and the manager flinched in fear.

"You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to listen to her," he said, nudging his head in my direction. "I'm not going to touch you, but not because I'm worried that you'll have something to show the police. I couldn't care less about the cops right now. What I do care about are all the women you've done this to because we have your fingerprints on her belt now, we could go to the police ourselves. But we're not going to, because we are good people. But I do hope you learned a lesson from this. Because if I hear about you even _looking_ at another girl wrong…Or if you go to the police about this, I swear, I will hunt you down, and I will kill you myself. And, yes, I have ways of getting to you. Understand?" The manager nodded quickly and swallowed deeply, then he looked over at me with a guilty face. "Don't look at her," Matt said roughly as he jerked the manager's head back to face him. "I don't even want you watching us leave. So here's how we're going to do this. You're going to wait in this room while we grab a couple extra bucks and get on the road. You better count to 200 before coming out of this room, got it?"

"You're going to rob me?" the manager asked in a squeaky voice.

Matt looked up at me for a second with a blank face. "Let's consider it a payment for us not telling the police about this, shall we?" Matt turned back to the manager. The manager looked down, but still managed to nod his head slowly. "Great," Matt said, smiling sarcastically. He turned to look at me, my face stained with tears again. He watched me fondly, but I was in no mood to return a smile.

Matt understood and just ushered me into the main entrance where the cash register was. He was checking behind us as we walked to make sure the manager wasn't following. I looked around the restaurant and saw that the place was completely empty. There were no other workers here. _The manager waited until he was as alone as possible to come find me…_

Matt hit a couple buttons on the cash register and the money drawer popped out. He took about fifty dollars out and started looking at the receipts that the restaurant kept. He said that if the restaurant itself has no proof that a certain amount of money was paid before the end of the day, then they have no record of the money ever being there. He found a receipt that had over seventy dollars on it. He smiled and took out just that amount. He mentioned that there were two fairly large parties there and one of them could have paid that amount but still easily could have paid less than that, so the restaurant wouldn't even notice it. I was still confused at the whole thing as Matt began ushering me out of the restaurant as he shoved the money and the receipt into his pocket.

We got into the car and drove off. Matt kept looking in his rear view mirror to see if the manager had called the police yet. When he apparently hadn't, Matt stopped looking. I wasn't talking yet, nor did I plan to anytime soon. That was not exactly an event that one would want to relive in any way. Again, I watched Matt in his reflection on the window. I kept seeing him look at me concerned. "I'm fine," I finally said.

"I didn't ask," Matt, responded, a little tense.

"Then stop looking at me like that," I said, almost yelled. I was definitely in a horrible mood. I just wanted to scream my heart out.

"Like what?" Matt yelled back.

"Like you actually give a crap! Don't tell me that you actually care about the girls who he does that to, and don't tell me you were concerned for _my_ life! You thought out an opportunity to get some cash, and you jumped at it! That was all!"

"Hey, what's your problem?" he asked, not understanding.

"My problem?" I yelled. "My problem is that a stranger just tried to…" I couldn't finish. "Look, all I'm saying is that you don't have to act like you're concerned about me."

"You honestly think that's an act?" Matt obviously wasn't in a good mood either. This was going to be interesting. "Then why did I bust my butt to get to you in that room, huh? Why didn't I just leave with all the money and leave you there to fend for yourself? Why did I waste my time scaring the piss out of that guy for what he tried to do to you? I don't understand what you just went through, but I do know that it could have been a heck of a lot worse if I hadn't been there! And if you think I did all of that for _myself_, you have a _serious _problem! I don't even know why you're giving me all this crap! I don't need this from after what I did!"

I wasn't crying, but my voice was still shaky from my anger. "If I was just causing you problems, then maybe you should have just left me there!"

"Maybe I should have!" Matt yelled at me. That ended the conversation, and we spent the next hour or so not speaking at all. I tried turning on the radio once, but he just turned it off again, and I gave up. I decided to take a nap, regardless to my instincts telling me not to nap while I was in this car with him. When I woke up, I was still in the same car, he was still driving, the radio was still off, and it was now a little after six.

"Good. You're up. We should probably start looking for a place to stay tonight. We're going to need a lot of rest if we're going to have to put up with each other tomorrow," Matt said with a smile. I guess my nap somehow cheered him up, too. But this was a good thing. I was refreshed, and he wasn't yelling. All was good in the white Honda Accord Hybrid.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5 

6:24PM

September 19, 2006

We had pulled off of the next exit and found a Super 8 motel in a town called Abilene, Texas. Right before we walked in, we saw a sign that said 'couple's discount, only today!'. Matt smiled and looked at me expectantly.

"No! Definitely not! I know what you're thinking and I'm _not_ going to do it!" I said immediately.

"But why not? They're having a discount! We could easily save some money!" he said with a huge smile.

"Because! Besides, we don't even have any rings! They're probably going to want to see some proof," I mentioned. Matt thought about it then took two golden rings out of his pants pocket. "What, you just walk around with two random wedding rings in your pockets or something?" I asked with a laugh. Matt's smile went away instantly and he slowly closed his hand around the rings. I hadn't even slowed down to think about it. I looked down myself, and felt guilty. "Oh…I'm sorry," I said sincerely and slowly.

"No…it's all right. You didn't know," he said quietly with his head still down. I looked up and stared at him. Concern was now in _my_ eyes.

"So are we going to do this, or what?" I asked, as enthusiastic as I could manage after a minute. He looked up, almost surprised.

"Really? I mean, you want to do this now?" he asked, his expression more shocked than surprised.

"Sure. If it'll get us a room while we save money," I said as I rolled my eyes. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. I could tell he was thanking me. He hesitated before he gave me one of the rings. "Are you sure _you_ want to do this?" I asked, looking deep into his eyes.

"Yeah," he said with a smile. "Let's go." He barely gave me time to put the ring on. I was surprised that it fit perfectly.

We walked into the motel and up to the front counter. There was a skinny blonde man standing behind it, typing away at a computer. Matt was able to gently slide his arm around my waist before we reached the counter. At first I was reluctant to allow it, but then I welcomed it to help perform our act.

"Welcome to Super 8 Motels, how may I help you?" the blonde man asked with a smile as soon as he was done typing.

"We're newlyweds. We just finished our honeymoon, and now we're just working our way back to Alabama. So you, uh…you got any rooms that are sound proof?" Matt answered with a deep southern accent, similar to Officer Brendan's, and grabbed my butt at the last part with a huge grin on his face. I jumped and yelped, but still managed to put a smile on my face. I playfully hit his chest and told him to stop through gritted teeth, while still smiling really big for the clerk. The clerk noticed my ring when I hit Matt, and smiled.

"Uh…" The clerk hesitated at first. "Actually we have a couple's special going on today, and if you'll give me a second, I'll see if the honeymoon suite is open," he said while typing away at his computer again. He smiled and then said, "looks like you guys are in luck. Our honeymoon suite is available, _and_ it's a part of the couple's discount."

"Great! Why don't you put us in that one as soon as possible. The sooner I get my baby alone, the better," Matt said while snuggling with me.

"Right away sir." The clerk smiled and began typing again.

"Please excuse him. I've warned him not to do that in public," I said, also with a deep southern accent, while glaring at Matt. He just smiled right back at me.

"That's quite all right, ma'am. Now, how long will you be staying?" the clerk asked, looking directly at Matt.

"Just for tonight. We want to get back on the road so that we can get home to mama Dean," I answered him.

"Well…She does," Matt whispered to the clerk while tipping his head at me. The clerk smiled.

"Now, would that be cash or credit?" he asked while looking at the computer.

"Oh! Cash, please," Matt said while taking his arm away from me so that he could dig in his pocket.

"Okay. That will be $57.50, sir." The clerk smiled big again. Matt paid the man, and we got our change and the key. The clerk had a bellboy show us our room.

The honeymoon suite was on the second floor. It was a pretty big room, considering it was only $57.50 for the both of us. It had a queen size bed with a heart-infested comforter and tons of heart-shaped pillows, but I immediately ran to the bathroom and felt my heart melt. There was a beautiful hot tub/Jacuzzi, just calling my name. I walked out of the bathroom exited. I couldn't wait to take a warm bath now. I saw Matt tip the bellboy a couple bucks, even though he didn't carry anything up. I thought that was real nice. I walked over and fell on my back on the bed. I sank into the warmth a little bit. It was welcoming. I was still able to see Matt, though, by looking down my body at him. He had just closed the door and was now looking at me with a glimmer in his eye.

He smiled at me. I could tell it was his charm smile, but I didn't mind. He had gotten me into a room with a Jacuzzi and a warm bed for the first time in almost a month. I was unbelievably grateful. He could tell, though, by the smile I was sending back at him. "What?" I asked him while sitting up, but still with that same smile.

"Nothing," he said while raising his eyebrows. Our accents were gone already. I took a deep breath and looked around.

"This is a nice suite," I said while nodding. He agreed, then walked over and sat down next to me.

"Look…I want to apologize about…before you went to sleep in the—" he started.

"Don't." I stopped him. He looked over at me sweetly. "It wasn't you fault," I said, looking down. He nodded softly. I took a deep breath. "I guess I'll just go take a bath now. So…"

"Yeah. Well, right. You go do your thing, and I'll just…stay out here," he said with a half-smile. I smiled back. We looked deeply at each other. I was getting lost into those deep green eyes again. Matt was starting to lean into me, but I flashed back to the first time I saw him. I saw him in that window the day my best friend was murdered. And I just couldn't do it. I couldn't even look at him in that moment without seeing Anna's face, longing to spend just one more day with me. I quickly turned my head before we made contact. I stood up and I couldn't even turn around to look at him. "What's wrong?" I heard him ask, as he gently stood up behind me.

"Nothing. It's nothing. I should probably just go take a bath and then we'll talk when I come out," I said softly, facing the bathroom door. Matt took a step closer and gently placed his body against mine from behind as he slowly started to caress my neck with his lips. I wanted it. I wanted it so bad, but I knew I couldn't have it. I bent my neck into his head, stopping him from continuing. I stepped away from him and started slowly for the bathroom. "I'm sorry. I just…I can't," I said, with my head barely turned to the side, looking at him out of the corner of my eye. He slowly looked away guiltily.

"Right," he said slowly when he looked back up and nodded. I made my way to the bathroom door and turned around one more time. I was thankful that I saw Matt instead of Anna. But I wasn't thankful for the look on his face. He was looking at me regretfully. His look was telling me sorry. I gently closed the door, watching him disappear behind it, and locked it. I leaned with my back up against the door for a moment. I didn't feel guilty. How could I? This man was still on my list of untrustworthy people, even if he was making his way off of it, slowly. I closed my eyes tightly and let go of a single teardrop for the sake of Anna's memory. It had to be for Anna. It wasn't for Matt. I could _not_ be crying for Matt. Could I?

I slowly got undressed and let the water in the bath get warm before sinking in. The warmth engulfed my entire body. The steam that rose up told me that I was now in heaven. I let my body slowly drift to the bottom of the tub while my head became the only part that existed outside of the warm water. I ran my hand across my neck gently and remembered my tags. I almost panicked again when I didn't feel them, but then my finger grazed a smooth, cold point of metal. _My tags,_ I thought, smiling. Then I remembered the ring that was on my finger. _How come he didn't tell me he was married?_ I took the ring off and gently placed it beside me on the edge of the tub, so that I wouldn't forget it. But then I let myself get carried away as I slowly drifted into a soft slumber.

As soon as I regained consciousness, I made an attempt to stand up, but my body was almost too weak. I just realized that I hadn't eaten since three-thirty. And although I had no idea what time it was now, I knew it had to be after 6:30, because that's the time we checked in. And I hadn't gotten that much sleep in the past couple days. So I used what little energy I had left to pick myself up and wrap myself in my towel. I quickly changed and came back outside, brushing my wet hair. Matt was sitting on the bed, reading some book. "How long was I in there?" I asked, the wetness almost still seeping through my tang top, and my pajama shorts.

"About an hour and a half," Matt mumbled, not looking up. _Wow, time really got away from me in there._

"What's that?" I asked, meaning the book.

"Huh? What?" he asked quickly, shooting his eyes up at me. I almost jumped at his surprised self. "Oh. This? This is just some bible I found in a drawer." He answered like it was not big deal. I nodded while still brushing through my black hair.

"Do you believe in God?" I asked, pausing momentarily. Matt took a long time to respond. He was looking at the bible the whole time.

"No," he finally said, simply. "But Jade used to." He was still looking down at the bible in his lap.

"Who is…" I lingered off.

"My wife…she was my wife," he said quietly.

"Was?" I asked, although I already somewhat knew what he was going to say next.

"Yeah. She died, though. A little over a year ago," he spoke slowly. I thought I knew what he was going to say, but I didn't expect that. I was expecting divorce or something, but not death.

"Oh. I'm so sorry," I said as I gently sat down on the bed at his feet.

"It's ok," he said as he lifted his head and smiled at me. "You didn't know, remember."

"Right," I spoke softly. We sat in silence for a minute.

"You saw her face, didn't you?" he suddenly asked me.

"What?" I asked, a little confused.

"Anna. You saw her face…just before I kissed you," he said.

"Matt, what are you talking about?" I said, looking away. I did not want to talk about this right now. But apparently Matt did.

"While you were in the bathroom, I went to look around the motel. And I kept thinking about. I kept thinking about it and…that's the only reasonable answer. I mean, you wouldn't pull away unless there was something big stopping you, and you saw her face. That's big." He was looking at me now, but it wasn't a serious stare.

"Matt, I pulled away because—" I started, but he stopped me from going on.

"You pulled away because you still see me as her killer. You still see her face when you look at me…you just can't let go, can you?"

"Can't let go? Why would I want to let go? She was my best friend in the whole world! I when I didn't have anybody else, she was always there!" I yelled, but was surprised that I wasn't crying yet.

"I don't mean to let go of Anna. Kalli, I would never want you to let go of her. I just meant…let go of whatever voice in your head that's telling you that I'm the bad guy. That I'm the one who ruined your life. I'm not like that, Kalli," Matt spoke calmly. I looked down at the brush I was holding in my lap. I was scared that he would see right through this armor that I put up the day I decided I was going to follow him. "Let go of that, Kalli…I'm not the bad guy."

"Then what happened?" I asked quietly. Matt took a deep breath and a moment before answering.

"I was supposed to be warning her family to get out the house," he started.

"No," I stopped him. "What happened before that? Why were you at her house in the first place? Why was it your job to warn her? And why did she have to leave her house? Why was she in danger in the first place?" I started slowly, but picked up speed near the end. I was looking at him again. Not crying…not angry. Just expecting answers. Again, Matt took a deep breath before continuing.

"I used to work for an agency. Have you ever seen the movie 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith'?" he asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Wait a minute…that's what that was?" I asked slowly again.

He nodded solemnly. "Kind of. It was slightly different, though. I worked for them for a little under three years. And I never got into any trouble. But then a dear friend of mine was taken. They were taken, and they were killed. And I couldn't do it anymore. I _could not_ do it anymore. I knew I should have realized it a lot sooner, but I noticed that when I hit my marks, I was taking them away from other people, too. People who cared about them. Just like when my friend was taken from me. Because my marks weren't just bad people. They were their families. They were their close friends. They were the people who didn't do anything wrong. But after…after my friend was taken away, I stopped. I was asked to tip off just one more mark, but I couldn't do it. So I decided to agree, but I was just going to have Anna and them leave, and I would say that I lost them. But it wasn't that simple. My agency was on to me, and they sent a back up to make sure the job was done right. While I was in Anna's house, I was warning them. I told them that they had to get out of there. I told them that they had to run. But Anna wouldn't. She just wouldn't do it. She couldn't leave you. She couldn't let go of you in the way I was asking her to." He paused as he watched my eyes slowly fill up with tears. I started shaking my head and repeating the word 'no' as he continued.

"It was your friendship that she held on to, Kalli. It was your loving heart that she couldn't let go of. But I let her go. I let her go too soon, because right after I left her house, the back up showed up. At the time, I hadn't known about the back up. That's why I wasn't ready for it. I thought everything was fine, but then I saw her face on the news the next day, and I…I didn't know what to do." Matt was almost crying now, too.

"No! Anna…wasn't a…she wasn't a bad person! Her mom wasn't a bad person, her sisters weren't bad people! I mean, who else is there?" I cried out.

"Her dad," he said quietly.

"No," I mumbled through my tears. "Her dad was a school teacher! He taught the 7th grade! He taught 7th grade fricken English!" I yelled again.

"Her dad…was also a biologist. And he had found something that could have changed this country. He found a weapon that could have been used to hurt this country. And at first I was told that he was talking to some people…some bad people. I was told that he was giving them this weapon. And my job was to take his family out, because he was already being taken care of. But Kalli…I didn't do it. I couldn't do. Even more so after I saw her. After I saw Anna's face. I knew she was the one I was going to have the hardest time with. So I just…I didn't." He finally finished. He sat there for a minute, letting me take it all in. "Kalli?" he asked after a couple silent minutes passed by.

"Just…" I started. "How…how many…people…before you friend?" I had a hard time getting it out. Matt looked at me incredulously. Then he looked down in shame. He couldn't even answer me. I half-gasped through my crying, but it just came out as a really deep breath. I buried my face into my hands and started crying even more. When I finally caught my breath, I rested my chin on my folded hands. I wasn't looking at him, but I could tell he was looking at me.

"Kalli…" he said, and nothing more.

"Tell me you wouldn't have done it," I spoke without looking at him, still.

"What?" he asked back, almost in a lighter voice.

"Tell me…that you wouldn't have killed her," I said, and then I looked at him. "Tell me…that if your friend was still here today…that Anna would be, too. Tell me that you wouldn't have killed her anyways, and I'll believe you didn't do it."

"Okay. I agree with you," he tried to get away with.

"No. I want you to say it. I want you to say that my friend would still be here today if you friend was, too. Just say it…and I'll believe you weren't set up." I waited for him to respond. He just looked down at his bible. "Come on, Matt. All you have to do…is tell me—"

"I can't! I can't tell you that! Is that what you wanted to hear? I can't promise that Anna would still be alive today! I just…I can't," Matt cried out. He started to shake his head gently as he began crying softly. "I just…can't. Okay?"

I was seldom looking at him. Right now, I was looking down into my lap. I had made him be honest with me. And that is what I wanted to hear. Because now I trusted him. I know that sounds really weird, but I needed for him to be able to tell me the truth no matter what. And having him admit to me, of all people, that Anna would not be alive today if his friend was, was the most truth I could ever get out of him. That meant that he was telling the truth about not killing her for real. That meant that I could trust him. We sat there crying all night, but eventually got to sleep for tomorrow. We knew it was going to be a long day tomorrow…


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6 

5:48AM

September 20, 2006

I was back in that same dream. I was parked outside Anna's house, watching her trip before I backed out of her driveway. I again called out to her, but she reassured me that she would be fine. As I backed out into the street, as I always do when I remember this day, I thought about when we were both just children. We used to laugh and smile all the time. Nothing was ever going to break us apart. Until today, that is. Everything was moving so fast that I could hardly keep up because I, yet again, called to remind Anna that she had evidently left her duffel bag outside. Then I saw his face again. Time slowed down for this one moment when I saw that familiar face of a friend. A friend whose smile filled my heart with warmth and love. A friend who doubled-crossed me into trusting him. I saw him on the TV the next day with the words WANTED above his jail picture in bright red letters. I screamed into the blackness when I saw 7:35PM, September 19th, as the date and time of death right next to _my_ 11th grade picture. I quickly ran to the mirror to see whom I had awoken as and I was scared to my very core to see Anna's face staring back at me. Then I woke up.

I woke up screaming at the pressure that was now crushing my mouth. I did not wake up to a smiling face of someone whom had just had the pleasure of sharing a bed with me. Instead, I woke up a hand over my mouth, and those beautiful green eyes staring in fear at me. "Would you shut up?" Matt said in a hoarse whisper. I immediately stopped all voice from coming out of my mouth. I looked around in shock at what was going on.

Matt was kneeling across me in a way to make him look like he was shielding me from something. But the roughness of his hand across my mouth was in no way to protect me. He was now looking out of the corner of his eye at the door to our room. Nothing happened, so he slowly brought his hand off of my mouth and began to slide off of the bed. I looked down my body at him and noticed that he was sweating. Not as much as I was, but still enough to be recognized. That dream always made me sweat. But I didn't know what was making him sweat.

"What's going on?" I asked him in a whisper. He didn't answer me at first because he was caught up in making it to the door silently and locking it. I turned around before he could answer me so that I could see what time it was. The numbers 5:49 were shining brightly in green.

"They followed us here. Well, they followed you here. But still, they're here," he answered me with his ear to the door.

"Who followed me?" I asked back perceptibly.

"Officer Brendan and his whole gang," he answered.

"Officer Brendan? What's he doing following us down here?" I asked in a hoarse whisper myself as I glided off the bed to meet him.

"I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me," he said simply. I was confused on how to answer. Then he stumbled a little bit, and had to grab a hold of me to catch his balance. I took one whiff of his breath then and knew what was going on. "Oh my god. You're drunk!" I whispered really loudly.

"Shh…" Matt put his index finger up to my mouth, and then looked a little queasy. I backed up while still staying in hearing distance so that we didn't have to shout whispers across the room. Then I heard the toilet flush in our bathroom. I looked to the room and saw somebody moving behind the fogged door. "God damn, that girl," Matt whispered out loud while turning his head lazily towards the bathroom. He stumbled his way across the floor to the door just before a woman came through it. I was shocked and angry at the same time. _He brought a woman back to the room while I was asleep? Was he even planning on moving me before he did anything on that bed?_ The thought was too much to bear.

"Matt!" I whispered loudly as he and the girl smiled at each other with drunken faces. He turned his head in acknowledgement, but didn't respond. The girl was tall and skinny. She had short, cropped blonde hair, and was wearing a short, red, leather dress. She had on tall, black go-go boots. Her makeup was poured on heavily, and her lipstick was smeared.

"Oh!" she said out loud, "This is Mandy!" She pointed to herself, and then laughed out loud with Matt. I shook my head in disbelief.

"You guys are drunk. Great!" I yelled in frustration. They both shushed me again, though. I put the palms of my hands to my forehead to think about this for a second. Then I heard voices coming from outside our door. I put my ear to the door and listened while Matt and Mandy played pat a cake with each other while laughing insistently.

"Which room?" one of the voices outside said. I immediately placed the voice with the person in my head. _Officer Brendan. So Matt was telling the truth. _

"That one, right there," I heard another voice mention. I quickly ran over to the two children I now had to watch, and covered their mouths. I heard a knock on the door and Officer Brendan ask if anyone was in. It took everything in me to make sure Matt and Mandy didn't make a sound. Officer Brendan knocked and asked again, but I refused to answer. Then he tried to open the locked door and failed. Next, he threatened to make a forced entry, but the other voice, who I guessed was the clerk, pleaded with him not to. I had to think fast of a way to get out of here. I thought of an idea, but I didn't think it was possible at this point with the other two in their condition. I decided to try for it anyways.

I was now sitting next to Matt in a closet. His breath reeked of alcohol. I held one hand over his mouth and the other over my nose while watching out of the thin sliver that broke the two closet doors, just big enough for me to see into the room. I watched impatiently as I saw Mandy climb into the bed. I had told her to be as sober as she could manage, which wasn't going to happen. But I was hoping she could find a way to distract the men long enough to detour them from the room. I would have crossed my fingers for luck if I'd had any hands to do it with. Instead I held my breathe, which helped in two ways. I watched and listened as I heard yells coming from outside of the room altogether. Then the door burst open. It completely flew off of the wall. I saw dust fly as three men with guns came running into the room. They all took a stance before Mandy as she screamed her drunken head off. I suddenly began to panic as I remembered that they would probably search the room before they left. I hadn't thought about that before, so now I was really in a predicament. I searched aimlessly for any way out through the closet and my prayers were answered gracefully. As I felt behind Matt, who had fallen asleep right when I made him sit down in here, I found a hole in the ground. I crawled as quietly as I could behind him in this unusually large closet to find a laundry chute. I traced the edges of it with my hands and judged that it was big enough to dump Matt down. I skillfully maneuvered myself back around Matt to look outside the closet one more time.

The guys with the guns were standing in their formation as Officer Brendan tried to reassure Mandy that everything was fine. The clerk was freaking out about the busted wall. Officer Brendan didn't look too worried about it, though. I took a deep breathe and slid Matt back towards the hole. I had to find a way to cover his mouth while pushing him, in case he woke up _before_ I dumped him. I pushed him back far enough to where all I had to do was push him, and he'd fall right down. Now was the tricky part. I had to wake him up without him making any noise and tell him to fall down a dark hole. This was not going to be easy.

I gently shook him to wake him up, but still had my hand partially over his mouth. He quickly shot his eyes open and started struggling. I tried as hard as I could to keep him quiet, but it didn't work. I heard Officer Brendan immediately tell one of the gunned men to search this closet. I knew there was only one thing to do. I pushed Matt and he fell backwards into the chute. I crawled over and put my legs in the hole, ready to go down. I put all of my body weight on my arms and I held myself up on the edges of the hole. That's when the gunman opened the door and held the gun to my face. I wasn't panicking, because I knew that they couldn't harm me. Not unless I was armed, which I wasn't. So I smiled at the gun and watched Officer Brendan walk over slowly.

"Kalli…don't do that," I heard him say as I went back to the place at the diner when I first heard those words.

"Do what?" I asked while struggling to hold my weight on my arms any longer, "run?" I immediately let go and fell into the tunnel that dropped deep into the dark. As I slid down the chute, I began to hear voices coming from underneath me. Somebody was yelling at somebody else. A fat woman came into view as I slipped out of the chute and onto a concrete floor. I fell hard on my feet and tumbled the rest of my body until I was lying on my face. It hurt like hell, but I had to get out of there and didn't have time to worry about pain. I quickly got up and looked around for Matt. The fat woman I'd seen right before I fell was yelling at Matt in some other language. He was standing there, still drunk, just letting her scream. I quickly grabbed him and pulled him with me towards the exit door. I heard the woman continue to scream as I dragged him outside. Immediately outside the door was a side parking lot. I ran to the corner of the building to look around for our car in the front parking lot. But there were more cops surrounding the whole lot. We were in deep shit, and I had to think of a plan fast.

I saw a skinny woman walk right past me and turned to head towards the entrance to the building. She was pushing a laundry cart and I smiled. I immediately grabbed one of the sodas that were in my backpack. I shook it up really hard and through it. She was about seven feet from me, so it wasn't that hard to land it in her basket. She didn't realize it, though, because she had headphones on and had her eyes closed, listening to her music. I turned around to make sure Matt was still leaning up against the wall where I left him. He had slouched down, but was still there with his eyes closed. I turned to face the laundry basket girl again, and I saw her picking something up out of the basket. She was grabbing the soda. I saw her walk past the police officer at the front door and handed it to him. He smiled and took it, then sent her on her way to another cop who was going to check the cart. I didn't expect her to do that, but this was better than I wanted. I had originally wanted her to open it and spray herself down, then make a big fuss about it, distracting the officers. But this was going to be better.

The officer looked at the soda and thought it would be safe. He grabbed the tin tab and opened it. The Pepsi sprayed all over his face and uniform. I laughed lightly as I saw him scramble with two other officers to get some paper towels. But now I had two more cops to deal with still. They were standing by a police car that was blocking the exit. I knew that I had five more sodas in my backpack, and wondered if I could use them to my advantage. I checked for Matt and slowly made my way towards the other two officers. I had to get a good view on what I was going to do here. I saw that there were no other cars within range of the police car. Then I saw our car. It was facing the exit conveniently. I smiled, and then ran back to where Matt was. He was all the way on the ground, now. I slapped him to wake him up. He woke up slowly and looked at me with that same drunken face. I shook my head in disappointment. I woke him up completely and helped him crawl to our car. I helped him in, but the officers at the exit didn't find anything to worry about. They just stood there on either side of the car, waiting for us to actually try to leave. Before I closed the door on Matt, he stopped me.

"Wait! We have to get Mandy! She has to come with us!" he said tiredly. I grunted and closed the door the rest of the way. He didn't have nearly enough energy to stop me. I pulled another Pepsi out of my bag and had to think about what exactly I was going to do. I noticed a good-sized rock on the ground and got an idea. I looked towards the main entrance and noticed that the other three officers still weren't back from the bathroom. I took my friendship bracelet that I had made for another girl named Kristen in the Kindergarten. It was just big enough to tie the rock to the soda. I didn't quite know what to do here until I saw one of the safety pins that were holding a hole on my jeans together. I had fallen asleep in my day clothes yesterday. I pulled one of the pins off and poked the soda. I put my finger over it really quick so that it wouldn't come out. I had never done this before, so I didn't know what it would do, but I was hoping it would distract the officers long enough for me to make a run for it. I looked down at the soda in my hand and prayed that Anna would be with me to help me with this throw. I turned towards the officers who were now laughing at something. I put one foot in front of the other and leaned back. I was remembering what Anna had taught me the day she taught me to play softball.

"_You've got to put your entire body weight into it," she said, showing me how it was done. _

"_Like this?" I asked, as I took a stance. _

"_Well," she started as she walked over to correct my foot placing, "there. Like that." She smiled. "Now just bring your body around with your arm and let go of the ball." I listened to her and threw the ball all the way into the outfield of the high school baseball field we were standing on. "Good job! That was amazing!" she shouted in excitement. _

Now I had to aim for the outfield again as I took that same stance from 11 years ago. I brought my entire body weight along with my arm and threw the soda can all the way to the police car. I smiled as I heard the windshield break and an alarm went off. The two officers started freaking out, scrambling to get the spraying soda can out of their vehicle. I could almost hear Anna's words again in my head.

"_Good job! That was amazing!"_

I had to abruptly jump into the car and start it. I fumbled with the keys, trying to hurry up. I finally got them into the ignition and started the car. When I looked up, two officers were still trying to stop the soda can. Then I looked in the rearview mirror, and saw that the other three officers were all running out to see what was going on. I put the car in drive and pushed the gas petal all the way to the floor. I sped out of the parking lot, passing the two officers and their car. One of them pulled out their gun and began to shoot at me. I quickly leaned over and put Matt's seat all the way back, so that he could lie down. I turned his head towards me, though; So that I could watch to make sure he didn't die from throwing up in his mouth. As I sped down the road, I saw the police officers seize fire and start talking in their walkie-talkies. I sped to an intersection, and turned right. I sped off down the interstate, just barely going over the speed limit. I watched Matt as I calmly made my way towards Oklahoma again. It was now that everything started to hit me. _How in the world did they find us? And I why were there so many officers there? Is Matt really that wanted? I mean, it can't possibly be _me_ that they're after, can it?_ I looked at Matt, sleeping. _And who the hell was Mandy, and why the hell was she in our room? _These were questions I knew were going to have to wait to be answered because I saw the lights of a police car in my rearview mirror. I began to slow down, but then realized that there was suitably a white Honda Accord slowing down, next to me. I noticed that it, too, had only a man and a woman, and the girl was driving. _Finally some good luck! _Although some weird luck, I began to speed up again, but just a little. I noticed that there was only one police car coming down behind us, and they would probably want to check us both. But I still kept a steady pace as the car next to me slowed down. I hoped that the officer would go after them, instead of us. As the other couple slowed down I thankfully saw the cop slow down with them. I stayed at that same speed as the officer got out and began to check them, but I was long gone over a hill before I had a chance to see that. I kept driving down that road, heading even farther south. I sat in silence as it took about another hour to get to I-10 East. I hadn't been stopped by, nor had I seen a cop since the motel. This was definitely some good luck.


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7 

7:22AM

September 20, 2006

As I cut through the little town to pick up on the road, Matt started to finally wake up. It was funny that I had almost forgotten about him because of how quiet he was being. Then I remembered the blonde girl, Mandy. I flushed with anger, although I have no idea why. I aimed it all at Matt as soon as he woke up and I hit him right as he started to stretch and yawn. I continued to hit him as I also tried to focus on the road.

"What the? What are you doing? What's the matter with you?" he yelled as he tried to shield himself. I finally stopped and stared straight ahead in slight pain. It wasn't pain from hitting him. It was pain from _why_ I was hitting him. I was hitting him because I felt like he betrayed me by bringing that Mandy chick to the hotel room. It was then that I knew that I had an attraction for the absolutely wrong person. I liked the guy who would only hurt me, in the least. _How? How could I like him? Out of the billions of guys in the world, I chose him! Why?_ I heard his voice again. "What's your problem?" he yelped.

"You're my problem!" I answered him angrily. He took a second to look at me fondly, and then began to look around in confusion.

"Wait a minute! Where are we? Where are we going?" he asked blankly as he continued to look around. I didn't answer him, so he asked, "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing. It's just…nothing," I replied quietly, keeping my eyes on the road.

"I take it you don't want me to know where we're going," Matt stated. I didn't respond to him again, so he shook his head and looked out the window in surrender. "Oh man, I had the craziest dream last night," Matt half-laughed after a minute, holding his head as he lifted his seat up and put his seatbelt on.

"Let's just…not talk about it, okay?" I pleaded rhetorically, but he didn't catch on.

"No. Not okay. What's your deal?" he asked concerned.

"It wasn't a dream, Matt! You were drunk! You were drunk and you left me to cover my ass, and yours, too! And to top it all off, _you_ came back to _our_ room with some blonde whore, expecting to do something on the bed that _I_ was sleeping in!" I yelled in rage at him, not even focusing on the road anymore.

"What?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah! And I had to commit about a dozen felonies to get us out of there!" I yelled still.

"Oh," he said quietly, "I'm really sorry Kalli. I didn't mean for things to get so out of hand."

I was too furious to answer him so I just nodded.

"Well, hold on. Who was after us?" he asked quietly again. It took me a second to respond.

"Officer Brendan," I said just as quietly, "I don't know how he found us, and frankly, I don't care. But it would have been a _little_ nice to have my partner there to help me out!" Matt sat there looking out of the window. He didn't reply to me, and I couldn't look at his reflection long enough because I was driving.

"Look, I said I was sorry," Matt turned back to me, "what more do you want from me?"

"I want you to be there next time! I want you to stay in your bed when you go to sleep, instead of going off and getting drunk with some whore you picked up at a bar. And I want your help next time we get into a situation. I really needed your help back there. Instead I was making sure you didn't choke on your own damn barf."

"Well I can't do anything about all that right now, can I?" he shot back.

"You're right! You can't! So just…stop talking, okay?" I was ready to slam on the brakes and beat his head against the dashboard.

"So who was this whore?" he asked with a smile after a second.

"That's it!" I slammed on the brakes and Matt's head went face-first into the dashboard. All the cars behind me began to swerve and honk their horns. Luckily, though, nobody got hurt. Except for Matt, but that was what I was aiming for.

"Holy hell!" he yelled as he held his bleeding nose.

"Just fucking drop it okay? Your little games are the last thing I need right now!" I yelled, not even worrying about the cars coming at us from behind.

"What the hell is the matter with you? You can't just slam on your fucking brakes like that!" he yelled while holding his nose up so he wouldn't bleed as much.

I hit my fist against the dashboard and grunted in frustration. As much as I hated it, he was right. I was lucky not to get caught by a cop at that instant. I eased on the gas petal as I switched lanes and turned off of the road to the side.

"I think you just broke my nose," Matt whined.

"Oh shut up, you big baby. You'll be fine," I said as I kept my eyes forward. I just needed a moment to cool off so I got out of the car and walked around to the back to lean up against the bumper. I sat and watched the cars drive by for a couple of minutes.

"Were you really that jealous of Mandy?" I heard coming from behind me. I spun around to see Matt half standing out of the passenger door with the exception of a leg leaning on the passenger seat. His nose wasn't bleeding anymore, so I figured it wasn't broke or anything.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked as I turned back to face the cars passing us.

I heard Matt sigh deeply. "I know we have our differences, but whether we like it or not, we're stuck with each other. It may just be a coincidence, or it could be fate, but either way, we're together. And we're _both_ going to have to deal with it. I think you realized it last night because I don't exactly remember who Mandy was, but you apparently didn't like her. And I highly doubt it was because you thought she was prettier than you 'cause I don't think that's possible." I smiled at that without turning around.

"You know, for a man…you really know how to get in touch with your feminine side." I continued to face the street.

"Yeah, well…for a girl, you really know how to get in touch with your angry side," he shot back. "And I got the emotional thing from Jade. She used to always tell me that if I kept all those emotions in me, that I would eventually die from a heart attack." He spoke with laughter. "I figured my job was dangerous enough without taking another 15 years off of my maximum age limit."

I half laughed. "How do you keep from going crazy?" He took a second to think about it.

"Well, I usually just pick up some whore at a bar," he said seriously.

My attitude went straight back to angry. "You're sick, you know that," I said just as seriously, but still faced away from him.

"Look, don't get mad at me just—" Matt started, but I interrupted.

"Excuse me? _Don't _get mad at you?" I turned around in shock that he actually said that to me.

"Look, the way I see it is we're even now. I saved your life back at the Denny's, and now you've saved mine." Matt said calmly.

"That was different," I said, a little calmer now that he was speaking in a hushed tone.

"How?" he asked just as serenely.

"Because…because you had no reason to go back for me at Denny's. I had a reason to go back for you at the motel," I started, not really liking where I was going with this, "I…I needed you…I still need you…to help me through this." We stood in silence for a while. He was letting it all sink in. Finally I added, "besides, you could have ratted me out to the cops if I had left you there."

"Well, you could have ratted on me, too." Matt tried to reason with a smile.

"Yeah, but you know I wouldn't have." I shot his reason down.

"You really think I know you that well?" he asked with a grin. I chuckled lightly.

"Yes. I think you know me all too well." I glanced at him for a short moment.

"Well I just so happen to think that I don't know you at all," he said smugly.

"Matt…you knew Anna. And I'm not using that against you in any way. At least not right now. I realize that it was your job. And besides, you didn't do it. And I think that you were really brave for that. The point I'm trying to make is that I'm just like Anna. And you knew her. So technically…you know me," I finished calmly.

"Kalli…_technically_ I didn't know Anna," Matt said with a confused smile on his face. He put his arm up on the roof of the car and continued to stare at me.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Well, it wasn't my job to know them. It was my job to know where they were, when they'd be there, and who would be with them. But I didn't _know_ them. So I don't really know you. I mean, I know a little about you, and so far, I think you're pretty cool. But," he started an unfinished sentence.

I smiled at the memory of when I had said those very words. I was in the third grade with Anna, and we had just met. I had known her for a little over a week, and we were already friends, but not like sisters, yet. We didn't become like sisters until the forth grade. But anyway, we were taking a quiz online at her house, and one of the questions asked you whom your best friend was…

_I typed in Kristen because she was my best friend in kindergarten through second grade, but had moved right after that. "Who's that?" Anna asked, slightly disappointed._

"_She's my best friend," I answered aimlessly, not even turning to face her. _

"_I'm not your best friend?" she asked shyly. _

"_Of course not, silly. I just met you," I said simply. I suddenly felt ashamed at what I just said and stopped typing to face Anna. She had a tiny tear in her eye, and that was not something I felt proud about. "The thing is, I don't really know you. I mean, I know a little about you, and so far I think you're pretty cool, but…" I had also trailed off. Anna's frown almost immediately turned into a grin. _

"_You think I'm cool?" she asked meekly. I smiled._

"_Totally! And you're still a good friend of mine. Just not best friend quite yet," I exclaimed. We both smiled again and turned our attentions back to the computer screen. _

"_Well you're my best friend," I heard her whisper. I smiled at myself. _

I grinned at the memory, and apparently Matt caught it. He probably thought I was smiling about the fact that he thought I was cool because he laughed lightly to himself. "So we're totally screwed, huh?" he asked easily.

"What?" I replied, not catching it.

"You said Officer Brendan was there. That means that he found a way to us, which means he'll follow us again, and _that_ means that we're screwed. Are you following me?" He teased. I snickered.

"Yeah, I guess so." I thought about it for a second.

"So where exactly were we going?" he asked, getting back to the fact that we were going somewhere he didn't know.

"Oklahoma. I have some unfinished business there," I said quietly. Matt understood, I guess, because he didn't say another word as we both got back into the car and started off again.

We had turned at Fort Worth about five hours ago and crossed into Oklahoma about three hours ago. I was surprised that Matt hadn't said a word the entire time. I guessed he was still slightly in pain from my brake fiasco, because ever since we got back into the car he'd been holding his head, and occasionally I'd hear him moan. But other than that he was silent the whole way. I was surprised at myself that I hadn't complained about food. I hadn't eaten since…well, since Denny's yesterday. I thought of a brilliant plan to get us food, shelter, and I would get to see my family again. I decided to go by my home.

About half an hour later, I pulled up to a one-story, bright yellow house with a small tree out front. Matt was about to stay in the car until I told him where we were. He was immediately eager to meet my family. He regretfully got out of the car quickly, just to end up with another headache. I almost had to help him all the way to the door, making sure he wasn't walking too fast the whole way there. I strolled up the short walkway to the step onto my front porch. Matt stood behind me as I rang the doorbell. My older brother, Jevin, answered the door. He was in college, but still lived at home so he didn't have to pay for room and board. When he answered the door, delight mixed with shock and fear swept across his face simultaneously.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked firmly after taking a second to think. I knew right away that this was not going to be a fun family reunion.


End file.
